Same As It Never Was
by GoldMatt007
Summary: Blossom wakes up in a future post-apocalyptic Townsville where Mojo Jojo has taken over with his robot army. The entire city is in ruin and its citizens have been enslaved. Bubbles and Buttercup have split-up, with one of them working for the evil monkey dictator, and the other rebelling against him... Blossom must reunite her sisters in order to take down Mojo and his evil army.
1. Welcome Home

_**Same As It Never Was**_

 _ **Chapter 1**_

 _ **Welcome Home**_

"Ugh, wha…?" Blossom awoke from her unconscious state, slowly blinking her eyes to reinstate her vision.

Looking up at the sky, it was dressed in a dark red color, with heavy mist and fog surrounding her all around. She sat up to look around and began to smell a rank odor nearby and noticed she was in an alleyway next to a large dumpster.

"Eww, gross." she muttered in disgust. Feeling a bit woozy, she stumbled a bit, but managed to pick herself up when she suddenly remembered something…

She gasped then shouted, "Mojo Jojo and the Ganggreen Gang! I've got to tell the girls." She immediately flew off into the sky over Townsville.

Looking down below, Blossom noticed there were no people in sight, no speeding cars honking their horns, no big city lights shining bright. Instead, she saw buildings with giant crater holes in them, shattered window glass from small corner stores, and abandoned parked cars lining the streets.

"What happened here?" she said to herself. "This place is a mess; I need to find out the cause of this right away! It surely had to be Mojo who did this, but the Ganggreen Gang working with him? That doesn't make any sense."

Blossom flew as fast as she could, finally arriving at her home. She landed on the ground near the walkway entrance and was overcome by complete shock at what she saw. Her eyes widened as she stared at the house in horror while covering her hands over her mouth.

"Oh no." she said softly. The house was in bad state; the windows to her and her sister's bedroom were broken, and there was a giant chunk of concrete wall missing at the side leading to the garage.

Luckily, the front door still stood there firm. She was hesitant at first, but quickly erased the fears from her mind and began to slowly turn the doorknob. While the door was opened halfway, she took a peek inside to look around. There were no lights on in the house, only the light from the door illuminating the front entrance could be seen.

"Hello… Girls… Professor… Are you guys alright?" she called out. Nobody answered her.

Blossom slowly floated inside and closed the door behind her. She made her way to the living room and saw that the couch was still there, although missing a few cushions and pillows, but the TV screen was smashed to bits.

"Professor, Bubbles, Buttercup?" She called out again. Still getting no answer, she began to worry. Blossom thought to herself _what if Mojo got them? What if he is holding them hostage right now? The Ganggreen Gang could be here right now to ambush me!_

Blossom floated by to the kitchen and noticed in the entrance there was a long straight piece of wire placed at the bottom between the open-door way. She floated down to investigate.

"What is this here for?" She said as she pricked at the wire with her hand. "Is it some sort of tripwire or trap?"

Suddenly, Blossom heard footsteps coming from the stairs next to her. She became silent… _Someone else is here, and it might possibly be an intruder. I have to be cautious about how I approach this. Wait, I got it! I'll just use my X-ray vision to see them through the wall._ She went to the kitchen wall with the staircase right behind it and used her X-ray vision on a corner. From what she could make out from the skeletal image, was a little girl's figure, wearing her hair in pigtails on both sides. _It's Bubbles!_ Blossom thought happily. _Thank goodness! She can explain everything to me!_

She zoomed out of the kitchen back into the living room eager to greet her sister, but to her surprise, nobody was there… _Where did she go? She couldn't have just vanished like that._ Confused by what just happened Blossom was just about to turn around when all of a sudden…

"HIYAH!" Out of the shadows a figure emerged and Blossom was tackled to the ground from where she was floating.

She tumbled and rolled around on the ground with her opponent in the dark.

"WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DO YOU WANT?!" They yelled. Blossom, having her eyes shut when she fell down, didn't see who it was, but she immediately recognized their voice.

"BUBBLES GET OFF OF ME!" Blossom yelled back.

Bubbles had her hand up against Blossom's face pushing it to the ground. "FIRST TELL ME WHO YOU ARE!" Bubbles yelled. "ARE YOU A SPY SENT TO GET ME, OR A ROBOT? OR A ROBOT SPY? TELL ME!" Blossom was getting irritated, and couldn't take the pressure from the weight she was locked in under.

"BUBBLES… GET… OFF OF ME!" she screamed.

While screaming at the top of her lungs, Blossom threw a hard punch at Bubbles. Bubbles hit the wall opposite of them at incredible speed leaving an imprint behind her and then slumping down to the floor. Blossom got up and adjusted her eyes in the dim light to get a proper look at Bubbles. Her blue dress and her blonde pigtails were just the same as before, but she looked slightly taller than her now. She was also wearing black sunglasses and a black overcoat, along with some black jeans and a pair of blue and white sneakers.

Blossom started slowly approaching Bubbles yelling at her "BUBBLES! WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU?! WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA FOR ATTACKING ME LIKE THAT?"

Bubbles was still shaken from the blow she just received and was panting heavily. Blossom was just about to say something else when Bubbles immediately rose up and pulled out a pistol and pointed it directly towards Blossom.

"Not… a step… closer." Bubbles said while still panting.

Blossom was completely taken off by this. As she slowly backed up with her hands raised halfway she said "Bubbles you have a gun? What are you d…?"

"This is a 50-caliber desert eagle handgun. You hit me like that again, I WILL NOT HESITATE TO SHOOT YOU." Bubbles shouted. "Now back to the original question. Who… are… you?" Bubbles said while pulling back the lever on the pistol.

"Bubbles… it's me… your sister, Blossom." Blossom answered nervously.

"My dear sister Blossom finally returns after all these years? I don't buy it."

Blossom was confused by her statement. "All these years? What do you mean? I…"

"YOU DAMN WELL KNOW WHAT I MEAN!" Bubbles' voice was growing with anger. "IT'S BEEN FIVE YEARS SINCE YOU WENT MISSING BLOSSOM. HOW CAN YOU JUST SHOW UP NOW OUT OF NOWHERE?"

"Five years…" Blossom whispered to herself quietly. "Bubbles… what happened to you?" she asked her sister in a soft voice.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO ME? WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO YOU?" Bubbles yelled back. "WHERE WERE YOU ALL THIS TIME?!"

Blossom was struggling to find any words to say as she couldn't comprehend the situation herself. "I… I…" "Wait a minute." Bubbles interrupted in realization. "You haven't changed at all… you still look the exact same like we were five years ago… that's impossible."

Blossom tried her best to calm her sister down. "Bubbles, please, will you just listen to me… I don't remember exactly what happened. I just woke up in an alleyway in downtown Townsville. It was right after the big fight between the three of us and I ended up going after Mojo Jojo and the Ganggreen Gang by myself."

"Mojo and the Ganggreen Gang?" Bubbles said in confusion. "The Ganggreen Gang has been dead for years now."

"They're d…dead?" Blossom replied in a faint voice. "What about everyone else, the other villains? Where are our friends and family? What happened to the Professor and Buttercup?" She asked frantically.

Bubbles had a puzzled look on her face. She was ignoring all of Blossom's questions and instead asked her "What do you remember from the encounter with Mojo?"

Blossom thought back to the moment before she was knocked out. In the flashback, she can vaguely see Mojo cackling over her with a large metal circular device tucked under his arm. She proceeds to then tell Bubbles about this. "Mojo had some sort of device he was carrying. I was dealing with the Ganggreen Gang until they went into this alleyway and I was ambushed."

After hearing this, Bubbles lowered her weapon. "So… it really is you Blossom. After all this time, you were just stuck in a time warp… how pathetic."

"HEY!" Blossom answered back. "WILL YOU STOP BEING SO RUDE?"

"Honestly, I could give less of a shit about my attitude." Bubbles said.

Blossom just stared at her with a look of complete shock and anger for a few seconds. "You can't be Bubbles." She said giving her a squinted eye look. "Bubbles would never act like this."

"That Bubbles you knew has been gone for a long time now." Bubbles replied.

"Oh, let me guess, you're "hard-core" all over again?" Blossom said mockingly.

"No, I wouldn't describe myself like that. Let's just say… I've changed." Bubbles said with a low voice. "Or you could just describe me as a "badass" now, your choice." She said with a grin.

Blossom became annoyed beyond reason at this point. Frustrated, she finally sighed then asked "Bubbles… what happened here?"

Bubbles responded "It's a long story, I'll explain most of it you, so listen carefully. Mojo was the cause of all this, that bastard."

Bubbles walked over to the light switch and turned on the living room light. Blossom just stared at her with an angry look on her face the entire time. The girl in the black overcoat, sunglasses, and jeans looked and sounded like her sister, but most of her apparel, as well as her attitude, definitely did not.

"Bubbles… I cannot believe you would point a gun at me like that. I'm your sister." Blossom said while feeling a bit choked up.

"Well sorry sis. Honestly, I thought you were some damn illusion, you know? Like I was thinking to myself "that couldn't be you." Then I noticed you were snooping around a lot and went towards the kitchen, figured that you were investigating my trap that I setup. That showed me you were a real entity and it wasn't just some shit messing with my mind."

Blossom still bared an agitated look and began to ask a series of questions to Bubbles. "How am I five years into the future? It felt like I just left the house five minutes ago! And what is with your attitude Bubbles? You are ten times worse than Buttercup now! Also, why are you wearing that outfit: a black overcoat and sunglasses in doors… really? Looks like a cheesy action movie getup to me. Another thing..."

"OKAY BLOSSOM, you're asking too many questions at once. Let's go into the kitchen and discuss things. I need a drink."

"BUBBLES YOU DRINK ALCOHOL NOW?" Blossom shouted angrily.

"No dumb ass, its soda. I had a little bit of beer before, it tasted like shit anyway." Bubbles said.

"Oh, okay then… HEY! WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?" Blossom yelled in realization.

"Oh, sorry Ms. Prissy Pants. I didn't mean to offend you." Bubbles said in a mocking tone as she walked towards the kitchen.

Blossom could not believe what she was seeing; what she was hearing. Her sweet, polite, innocent sister had turned aggressive, insensitive and vulgar. As Blossom floated behind her, she started thinking _this can't be real. It has to be some weird dream or something. How is this even possible? I apparently got sent in a time warp to the future by Mojo, and now Townsville is in complete ruin. I would say that Bubbles does look a bit older though, but there is so much that doesn't add up._

 _ **END OF CHAPTER 1**_

* * *

 **Author's Note: Hello everyone! My name is Matthew, I am a new fanfic writer and this is my first fanfiction. The Powerpuff Girls is probably my favorite animated show of all time. I loved watching it as a kid, along with other CN classics like Dexter's Lab, Samurai Jack, Kids Next Door, Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, etc. PPG though, holds a special place in my heart. I would always be ready to watch it as soon as I came home from school. Never missed out on an episode. I even went to see the movie in theatres. (I was probably the only boy XD). Anyways, we all are avid fans of PPG and even after the show ended many years ago we still love the series so much that we follow and even create new content outside of the main medium it is based on. That is the true power of the fans right there. I also run this PPG fan page on Facebook. I post fanart, fanfiction, comics, and classic content from the show itself. Check it out if you like! facebook(dotcom)/ppgfancom**

 **Some Clarification: I was having a hard time, choosing a proper time period, since this story deals with time travel. I ultimately decided that I wanted all three of the girls to be kids still, not teenagers or adults. Since Blossom was sent through a time portal to the future, she hasn't aged and is still 5 years old. Everyone else in the story however, has aged by 5 years. That is why Bubbles is described as slightly taller now, as she is 10 years old. (I know she has quite a potty mouth for a 10-year-old, but hey, it's a bleak future that she had to grow up in.)**

 **I drew heavy inspiration for this story from a TMNT episode with the same title. (I'm not creative with titles XP). In the episode, Donatello gets sent to a future post-apocalyptic world where the Shredder has taken over and Leo, Mikey, and Raph have split up. It's a great episode and has some incredible dark themes. I however, plan on having my story differ drastically though from the plot in this episode.**

 **Another thing I wanted to incorporate was the idea of Bubbles becoming a badass. Bubbles is known as the most innocent, loving, and caring character of the group. Well I wanted to take that personality AND STOMP ON IT TO PIECES. (lol jk) Like in the episode "Bubblevicious," we see a different side of Bubbles that takes no shit from anybody. I wanted to take that personality and ramp it up to 11, making her even more badass than Buttercup probably.**

 **Anyways thank-you for reading and stay tuned for more! I have the blueprints planned out for future chapters already and I don't want to spoil them, but Chapter two will be a flashback chapter showing the events that took place before. Should be up soon, as well as chapter three.**

 **-GoldMatt 007, Matthew**


	2. The Downward Spiral

_**Same As It Never Was**_

 _ **Chapter 2**_

 _ **The Downward Spiral**_

 ***Townsville – 5 years ago***

The city of Townsville… "SHUT UP BUTTERCUP!" yelled Bubbles. Whoa, déjà vu.

Blossom watched her two sisters argue back and forth with one another. "NO BUBBLES, THIS IS YOUR FAULT!" Buttercup yelled back. The two began to bicker and banter so much that, nobody could understand exactly what they were saying.

"Um, girls?" Blossom said, trying to get their attention.

The two kept arguing with each other.

"Girls?" Blossom said raising her tone a bit more.

The two still kept arguing.

"GIRLS!" Blossom yelled at the top of her lungs.

Bubbles and Buttercup finally disbanded their argument and diverted their attention towards Blossom. "What is the problem here with you two?" Blossom asked the both of them.

"Buttercup started it!" Bubbles blamed.

"No, you started it!" Buttercup answered back.

"Started what? What are you two talking about?!" Blossom demanded in frustration.

Just as Bubbles and Buttercup were about to speak, the hotline began to ring. Blossom rushed over to the phone while Bubbles and Buttercup stared at each other indignantly.

"Hello, Mayor?" Blossom asked over the phone.

"No, it's Ms. Bellum. Blossom, those teenage green gangsters have stolen the Mayor's personal pickle stash and he isn't planning on stopping from going after them."

While listening on the phone, Bubbles and Buttercup started arguing again behind Blossom. "Shut up you two!" Blossom whispered off of the phone.

"I know it's just a minor emergency, but do you mind if you girls can get his things back so he can return to his office and I can finish my paperwork?" Ms. Bellum asked politely.

"Don't worry Ms. Bellum. We're on our way!" Blossom hung up the phone and returned to the heated argument.

"YOU KNOW WHAT, DUMB DOO-DOO BRAIN?!" Bubbles squeaked in anger at Buttercup.

"What, cry-baby?" Buttercup answered calmly, but still harshly.

"HEY!" Blossom yelled again to get their attention. "We have a job to do, now you two stop arguing and LET'S GO!" She said sternly.

Blossom darted out the window at light speed, but her sisters stayed in the room, glaring at each other angrily. "COME ON!" Blossom yelled again from the outside.

Both of them finally zoomed out of the house following Blossom's pink trail. As the three of them caught up and flew together in the air, Buttercup and Bubbles began to make faces and taunt one another. Trying not to get distracted by her sisters, Blossom kept an eye out on the city streets below, looking for the Mayor and the Ganggreen Gang.

* * *

"GIVE ME BACK MY PICKLE JAR!" The Mayor of Townsville whined as he chased the Ganggreen Gang down a city street. Ace, Big Billy, Snake, Lil' Arturo, and Grubber all laughed manically while running towards a busy intersection.

"Yo Snake, catch!" Ace had the pickle jar in his hands and started throwing it towards his friends, acting as a game of catch.

"Got it." Snake replied. "Hey over here!" called Lil' Arturo from behind.

"Sssure thing pal!" Snake hissed as he tossed the jar to Arturo. "Excellente!" Arturo said and tucked the jar under his arm.

Ace, Snake, and Grubber ran through a crosswalk as soon as the timer started to countdown, while Arturo and Billy stayed behind.

"Oh! Oh! Arturo me next!" Billy hopped up and down excitedly near the crosswalk. The Mayor was still trailing behind, running as fast as he could to catch up with the boys.

"GIVE IT BACK NOW!" The Mayor yelled as he was making his way towards Billy and Arturo.

"Okay big guy, go long!" Arturo said as he raised his arm with the jar behind his head, ready to toss it to Billy like a football.

"Oh boy! Oh boy!" Billy jogged on the spot for a few seconds and started to make a run for it to the other side.

Arturo threw it to Billy with all his strength, right as the Mayor caught up to him, panting and out of breath. Since Arturo was light and quick on his feet, he stayed behind and proceeded to laugh and taunt the Mayor while he was holding onto the light pole to catch his breath.

The pickle jar flew through the air in a perfect spiral. "I got it, I got it!" Billy said as the jar landed in his hands. Arturo also made a mad dash as he saw there were 10 seconds left on the timer, leaving the Mayor behind.

Billy was halfway through the crosswalk, until he abruptly tripped on a tiny pebble, causing the jar to fumble from his hands and fly through the air once again.

*Time slows down as the jar goes sailing through the air.*

Arturo tries to jump and catch it, but comes up too short.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The Mayor cries out in fear as he foresees his precious pickle jar about to be smashed to pieces. Ace and Snake watch helplessly just as the jar was about to drop to the ground near the curb, but right at the last second, Grubber stuck his long tongue out and snatched it up, holding it in place.

"Way to go Grubber!" Ace and the rest of the Ganggreen Gang congratulate him and meet up on the other side of the street. "Phew!" The Mayor said in relief, rubbing some sweat off his forehead. The Mayor is both glad… and disgusted that his pickle jar has had no harm done to it, but is resting on the tongue of the grotesque creature's mouth.

* 3… 2… 1.*

The crosswalk sign turned red and the traffic light turned green, allowing vehicles to pass through once again. The Mayor began to growl and his face turned to a cherry red with steam being seen rising from his head. The Ganggreen Gang all started to laugh in place at the Mayor's stressed face, until they heard a familiar voice.

"Not so fast Ganggreen Gang!" bellowed Blossom. The Five of them immediately stopped laughing, frozen in place.

"Powerpuff Girls?!" Ace called out surprised. "How did you find out about this?"

"We have our sources." Blossom smirked.

"Girls! Thank goodness you arrived!" The Mayor cheered. "These miscreants almost gave me a heart attack!" He shook his fist in anger at the gang.

"Don't worry Mayor! We'll get your pickles ba…" "You know what Bubbles? You're annoying and completely worthless!" Buttercup interrupted Blossom loudly from behind.

"I am not!" Bubbles said, as her eyes were beginning to well up with tears, but still looked at her sister with anger.

"Really?" Blossom turned around to face her sisters, completely aggravated with their behaviour. "Right now, in the middle of dealing with a situation here?" She questioned them.

"I don't care." Buttercup proclaimed. "She really ticked me off this time! Now she's going to cry like a baby to get her way and act like I'm the one at fault here!"

"You know what?" Bubbles started to wipe the tears from her eyes. "Not this time. You think I'm soft? THAT I'M A WEAK BABY AND CAN'T FIGHT BACK?" Bubbles said furiously. Bubbles came face to face with Buttercup at this point. The Ganggreen Gang and the Mayor just watched them continue to argue, astonished by their behavior.

"CAN YOU GUYS COOL IT ALREADY?" Blossom yelled again. They didn't listen to her this time. Buttercup began to provoke Bubbles once more.

"Yeah, you know what Bubbles? THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I THINK YOU ARE!" She barked right in Bubbles' face.

"THAT'S IT!" Bubbles screamed at the top of her lungs and punched Buttercup square in the face, sending her flying towards a nearby building and crashing into it.

*CRASH*

Her body hitting it with such a great impact, creating a hole in the wall and landing inside the building. Blossom gasped loudly, covering her mouth with her hands. The Mayor, the Ganggreen Gang and some nearby pedestrians were caught off guard by the sudden impact and stared in complete shock at what just happened. Bubbles had a grimace look on her face, gritting her teeth and panting heavily. Blossom slowly turned towards her enraged sister.

"Bubbles, how could you?" Blossom said disappointed.

"NO BLOSSOM! "I AM SICK AND TIRED OF BUTTERCUP TREATING ME LIKE GARBAGE!" Bubbles roared. "I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! SHE THINKS SHE IS ALL TOUGH AND CAN JUST PICK ON ME LIKE A BULLY? WELL SHE CAN GO…" Bubbles said with her eyes closed.

Right before she could finish, a green trail of light zoomed right at her with incredible speed, taking her and flying into another building behind them.

*CRASH*

Passerby's watched again as they heard another quake. "Oh my gosh!" Blossom said fearfully and flew into the building, concerned for her sisters.

"What in the world is going on with them?" The Mayor asked aloud, confused.

"Hey Ace! Now is our chance to escape." Lil' Arturo told his leader.

"You're right, let's book it out of here." Ace agreed. Big Billy, Arturo, and Snake started to make a run for it.

"Here, grubber, pass me the jar. Ace demanded. Grubber kept his tongue stuck out with the jar and Ace reached out to take it from him. The jar was covered in heavy saliva and Ace had a disgusted look on his face when picking it up. Just as he had it in his hands, the jar slipped out, falling onto the road and rolling into the middle of traffic.

"Aww geez!" Ace said, devastated. "Whatever, let's get outta here!" With that, he and Grubber ran off.

The Mayor noticed them trying to make a run for it and shouted at them "HEY! YOU HOLLIGANS GET BACK HERE WITH MY PICKLE JAR!" He then noticed that they didn't have the jar in their hands, but it was instead resting in the middle of the intersection.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The Mayor screamed. "NONONONONONONONONO!"

The Mayor was panicking wildly. He looked back up at the broken glass from the building, hoping that the girls would come out any second now, and then back at the busy roadway seeing the glass jar just laying there in the middle. From the little courage he mustered, he managed to get a hold of himself.

"Hang on boys! Daddy's coming!" He uttered heroically. The Mayor began to cross the heavily filled traffic road.

*BEEP BEEP*

"WOAH!" The Mayor jumped out of the way of an oncoming car from the left.

*BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP*

"YOW!" The Mayor dodged another car from the right and dived into the middle of the intersection.

"GOTCHA!" He exclaimed as he grabbed the jar. He sat in the middle of the road hugging and adoring his prize possession. "Don't cry little ones, Daddy's here, Daddy's got you." He spoke to his Pickles.

Completely oblivious to his surroundings, he didn't notice that a massive semi-truck was coming down the road straight at him. The truck driver barely noticed he was in the middle of the road and started freaking out as he was approaching him.

*HONK* *HONK* *HONK*

"HEY BUDDY, GET OUTTA THE WAY!" He yelled out the window. The Mayor finally opened his eyes, only to see the huge semi-truck drawing near him.

*LONG HONK*

"BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The Mayor screamed. The truck driver slammed on the breaks as hard as he could.

*SCREEEEEEEEEEEECHHHH*

* * *

Buttercup pinned her sister down to the ground with all her strength, while Bubbles struggled to get free. They were in an office environment and had smashed a desk and some cubicles on the way in, while the employees and staff stared at them in shock.

"So, you wanna play rough, Huh?" Buttercup smirked while Bubbles continued to struggle. "Well, HOW DO YOU LIKE THIS?" She frowned and punched Bubbles hard in the face, still keeping hold of her.

"OOF!" Bubbles yelled in pain.

"AND THIS!" Buttercup threw another punch to the right this time.

"OW!" Bubbles screamed. Buttercup began to throw a fury of punches against Bubbles as she was completely defenseless against her attacks.

"YEAH, HOW DOES THAT FEEL?" Buttercup said viciously.

"STOP IT! STOP IT!" Bubbles cried out.

Just then, Blossom found them in the middle of the floor. She gasped and proceeded to scream "BUTTERCUP GET OFF OF HER!"

Buttercup realized what she was doing and immediately stopped as soon as Blossom ordered her to. Bubbles was left on the ground beaten, bruised and crying with her hands covering her eyes. Blossom landed on the ground to comfort her hurt sister.

"Buttercup, what is wrong with you?! Look what you did to Bubbles!" Blossom said in a harsh manner. She helped Bubbles up as she continued to sob.

"Well… well… she started it!" Buttercup declared.

"Yes, but you went too far this time! She is your sister for crying out loud!" Blossom proclaimed. She turned back to Bubbles, holding her arm around her shoulder and asked her "Are you okay Bubbles?" Sniffling and wiping a tear from her eye, Bubbles nodded and began to brush herself off.

"Whatever…" Buttercup crossed her arms and looked away. Bubbles looked up at Buttercup and felt the rage building up inside her again.

"You may be my sister Buttercup, BUT YOU ARE EVIL AND COLD HEARTED!" Bubbles yelled.

"Like I care what you think!" Buttercup said facing away from them.

"I honestly don't care what you think, because… I… hate you." Bubbles said in a quiet voice. "Don't… ever… speak to me again." She told her and slowly floated out of the building while Buttercup just stood there with her arms crossed. Blossom felt instantly grief stricken by hearing this. She would never imagine her sisters to fight this badly and actually have hatred towards each other. Even with her and Buttercup, it never escalated this far with their fights. Blossom floated over to Buttercup.

"I hope you're happy now. I understand that she hit you first and that was wrong of her, but you didn't need to beat her up that badly." She said calmly, but sternly.

"Who cares! She's a pain in the butt anyway." Buttercup complained.

"She may be a pain in the butt sometimes, but she is your loving sister… that now hates your guts." Blossom explained. "Both you and Bubbles need to work your problems out with one another in order for us to be a successful team."

Buttercup didn't reply and just stared at the clock in the back on the office wall. Blossom was about to say something else when all of a sudden, she heard a shriek from outside.

"BLOSSOM, COME QUICK!" Bubbles yelled from the outside.

Blossom zoomed out of the building leaving Buttercup inside. She looked for Bubbles and quickly found her floating over a large circular crowd of people in the street with a big semi-truck parked behind them. Blossom descended towards Bubbles and asked her "What's the problem?"

"There's been an accident. Someone got hit by the truck!" Bubbles yelped.

Blossom and Bubbles floated towards the large crowd, desperate to seek out the fallen victim.

"Oh my God!" A woman screamed. "Is he dead?" A man asked. "Did someone call an ambulance?" Another piped up.

They made it into the middle of the circle and became completely overwhelmed with despair by what they saw.

"AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Bubbles screamed.

"MAYOR, NO!" Blossom cried out.

In the middle of the ground, laid the Mayor, arms and legs mangled up and bleeding profusely on the ground, pickle jar smashed to bits on the side. He was still alive, and still breathing, although in his critical condition.

"I-I-I tried to warn him, I tried to tell him to get out of the way!" The truck driver said sorrowfully to some media and news crew.

The paramedics finally arrived, cautioning everyone to get out of the way and give them room. An EMT bent down to check on him.

"He's breathing heavily, get the manual ventilator ready." The EMT said, checking on him while the other EMT prepared the stretcher and the ventilator. "Mr. Mayor, Sir, you're going to be fine, I need you to stay with me." The EMT said trying to comfort the Mayor. The Mayor coughed up some blood and was wailing in agony.

Bubbles and Blossom had a hard time watching as the EMTs picked him up and put him on the stretcher while the Mayor cried out in pain. He started breathing even more heavily, so they hooked up the ventilator to give him some air and put the mask over his mouth to allow him to breathe normally. They took him into the back of the ambulance and started to do some more diagnostics on him.

"Most likely case is some broken bones and a spinal injury." One of the EMTs said. They did some more tests.

"He was bleeding a lot back there and his pulse is dropping rapidly. We need to get going, quickly." The other EMT said.

"Um, excuse me sirs?" Blossom came to the back of the ambulance. "Is the Mayor going to be okay?" She asked nervously, but politely.

"Oh hey, you're Blossom, one of the Powerpuff Girls?" An EMT asked her. She nodded at them.

"The Mayor is in stable condition, for now, but we need to get him to the hospital stat!"

"I can help!" Blossom exclaimed. "I can fly you guys in the ambulance over in no time!"

The EMTs looked at each other and agreed. "All right, but please try not to shake up the vehicle too much in the air."

I won't, I promise!" She said enthusiastically. "Give me a sec." Blossom told them and rushed back over to Bubbles.

"I'm going to take the Mayor to the hospital. Go and tell Buttercup, Ms. Bellum, and the Professor to come to the hospital and that he's going to be fine, alright?"

"Sure." Bubbles agreed. Blossom flew back over to the ambulance, getting ready to transport them; while Bubbles flew back to the building Buttercup and she had originally crashed into.

Buttercup was still there, sipping on some coffee she made, sitting on a lounge chair within the office, while all the staff had already exited out of there. Bubbles came through the broken window, with an agitated look on her face, preparing to tell Buttercup of the news.

"It was nice of you to check on our friend, the Mayor." She commented on Buttercup's arrogance.

"I thought you weren't talking to me." Buttercup said sarcastically.

"Buttercup this is serious; do you not care for the Mayor's well-being?"

"That dumb headed goofball… he is in need of brain surgery, I swear." Buttercup mocked and sipped her coffee cup.

"Well he might have to do real surgery because he almost died!" Bubbles exclaimed while crossing her arms.

Buttercup immediately spat out her coffee, "What? How did that happen?" She questioned, feeling dismayed.

"Yeah, because of you, the Mayor got hit by a car and is now in the hospital." Bubbles scorned.

"Hey, none of this is my fault! You're the one who hit me in the first place!" Buttercup accused.

"WELL YOU STARTED IT!" Bubbles yelled.

"NO, YOU STARTED IT!" Buttercup yelled back.

The tension between the two increased as their eyes met, interlocked and unmoving, not even a flinch.

"You really want to fight?" Bubbles asked her sister truthfully.

"Sure, but you're probably going to cry again." Buttercup snapped back.

The two of them kept glaring at each other for the longest time. There was silence all around, the only noise that could be heard…

*tick* *tock* *tick* *tock*

...was the clock on the office wall. Bubbles and Buttercup kept staring at each other, waiting for one of them to make a move until…

"MY OFFICE COMPLEX!" shouted a man from behind. Bubbles and Buttercup turned their attention to a tall middle aged man wearing a suit with a cigar in his mouth.

"Uh oh." The two of them said at the same time.

"YOU LITTLE BRATS!" the man yelled. "WHY I OUGHTA…!" Bubbles and Buttercup immediately flew out through the broken window as fast as they could. "HEY GET BACK HERE!" the man yelled. "I WAS GONNA GO EASY ON YOU AND JUST LET YOU CLEAN THE PLACE, NOW I'M SUING!"

* * *

"Thanks for the help Blossom." The EMTs said.

"You're welcome!" she said gladly.

The EMT's grabbed the stretcher and rushed the Mayor into the intensive care unit. _Alright, that takes care of that. Now I just need to wait for everyone else to arrive._ Blossom floated into the waiting area and sat down on a chair, waiting patiently. _They should be here any time now._ She thought rationally. _The poor Mayor… I feel so bad…_

* * *

At the hospital, the girls, Ms. Bellum and the Professor had all arrived. Ms. Bellum had just finished talking with some of the staff and walked back over to the Professor and the girls.

"He should be out of intensive care and moved to a room soon." Ms. Bellum announced. "

That's great to hear." The Professor said. The girls didn't say anything and just sat down quietly.

"It was nice of you to drop by and see him." Ms. Bellum thanked the Professor.

"Oh, it was no trouble at all, really. The Mayor is of course, a dear friend of ours."

The Professor and Ms. Bellum continued with their conversation while the girls sat there in silence listening to them. Bubbles and Buttercup both had their arms crossed and had exasperated expressions on their faces while Blossom sat in the middle between them. Blossom had her hand on her chin and was in deep thought, reflecting on the events that happened.

 _What is wrong with them?_ She contemplated. _Can they not just stop fighting already? Thanks to this stupid incident, a very horrible and tragic thing has happened to the Mayor… and we couldn't stop it. I'm not sure, but I bet the Ganggreen Gang had something to do with the accident._ Her eyes glanced to the left at Buttercup. _Buttercup's attitude is worse than usual._ She then glanced to the right at Bubbles. _Bubbles seems to be retaliating immensely._ Her eyes focused forward again. _I don't even know why they are fighting in the first place! Hopefully the Professor can sort this thing out._

* * *

Later that night, after the hospital visit, Professor Utonium drove the girl's home. He was extremely disappointed with Bubbles and Buttercup once he had heard Blossom's recount of their behavior.

"Blossom you can go up and get ready for bed. Bubbles and Buttercup… we need to have a little chat." The Professor said sternly.

Blossom nodded and flew up to her room without another word. Bubbles and Buttercup's angered expressions turned towards her as she floated up the stairs. She kept the doorway opened slightly so she could listen to the conversation. The Professor then began to question the two on why they were arguing in the first place.

"So, would you two care to explain yourselves for your awful behavior?"

"SHE STARTED IT!" They said simultaneously.

The banter between the two escalated again, with Bubbles and Buttercup arguing non-stop. The Professor couldn't understand for the life of him, anything they were saying from them talking over each other.

"ALRIGHT THAT'S ENOUGH!" he shouted angrily.

Bubbles and Buttercup immediately fell silent.

"If you two hurt one another like that again, you're grounded! Now please, get ready to go to bed. It's late and I've had a very busy day."

"But Professor!" they said at the same time.

"No Buts! NOW GO!"

The two reluctantly floated towards the stairs, Buttercup first and Bubbles behind her. Bubbles had some tears in her eyes while going up the stairs as the Professor had never yelled at her directly in such a harsh tone before. The professor sighed and walked to the living room chair to sit down.

 _That wasn't right, probably the worst parenting I've ever done. I should have tried to listen to them._ The Professor pondered. _I can't believe they would resort to violence against one another. Tomorrow I'll have a proper talk with them and get this whole mess sorted out._

* * *

The girls changed to their PJs and got ready for bed. Every once in a while, they would switch their sheets and pillows to a different side of the mattress. The current setup was Blossom's sheets on the far left, Bubbles' sheets in the middle, and Buttercup's on the far right. Blossom was fluffing her pillow up, when Bubbles came behind and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hey, do you mind switching spots with me?" Bubbles asked her quietly.

Blossom shot her an agitated look. "Why?" She asked. Bubbles pointed to Buttercup who was also fluffing her pillows, but in a harsh fashion, by holding it with one hand and punching it with another.

"That's why!" Bubbles whispered loudly.

"Okay, fine." Blossom agreed and picked up her sheets from the bed. Bubbles took her sheets and set them up on the left.

Once they were all tucked in and ready to sleep, Blossom proceeded to ask her sisters "So… are we just going to not address the elephant in the room?"

"What elephant?" Bubbles asked.

"It's just an expression, Bubbles."

Everyone was silent again for a few seconds.

"Are you guys okay? I mean, seriously, what is the big fuss all about?" The two of them looked at Blossom, then at each other. "Humph!" They both grunted.

"C'mon you guys, I don't like when you two are like this." Blossom sulked. "This day was horrible for all of us. We let the Ganggreen Gang get away and the poor Mayor… I hate that he was severely injured in an accident that we probably could have prevented that from happening."

Buttercup turned to her side and said "Yeah, its sad and all, but I don't want to talk about it."

"Me neither." Bubbles huffed and did the same.

Blossom's expression went from sadness to resentment. "Fine, be like that! Keep your problems all bottled up, that will definitely fix them!" She said to the both of them, left the room and shut the door.

She floated out of the down the stairs to the living room. The Professor had fallen asleep on the couch with the TV left on. She switched it off, grabbed a spare blanket and pillow; scooted over and curled up next to him on the couch.

"I'm fed up with their nonsense. Both of them act so stupid." She said to herself quietly. _Sometimes, I seriously question how they are my sisters._ Blossom shut her eyes and tried to get some sleep.

* * *

At the peak of the volcano-top observatory, in the middle of Townsville Park, the infamous Mojo Jojo was working intensely on his newest invention. He was wearing a welding mask and using a blowtorch to construct his machine on a table. He shut off the torch and brought up his mask to marvel at his creation. It was large, shiny, and solid metal; a round object that was shaped in a perfect circle.

"Ah yes, it is almost finished! For I, Mojo Jojo, have created the world's first portable time machine! Top that, Utonium! MWAHAHAHAHAHA!" Mojo cackled. "Even though it's not built into a fancy sports car with those nice gull wing doors, at least it doesn't have to get up to 88 miles per hour to power the flux capacitor!" He joked. "Now, time for a nicely needed break."

Mojo concluded with his work and went to his living space to watch some television. He kicked his feet up on his couch, grabbed the remote and turned on the TV. "Let's see…" Mojo said and went up a channel.

"Mia mor, I am so sorry, but I cannot be with you any longer." "No, Ricardo! Please don't leave me!" "I'm sorry my love…" "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Uh-uh." Mojo said and went up another channel.

"Dr. Freeman, the creature, it's mutating!" "Oh my God… EVERYONE RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! IT'S A GIANT MUTANT COCKROACH!" "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Seen it already." Mojo said and went up a channel once more.

"Hey boys, I just love bananas. They provide me with potassium and help keep me fit and strong. Wanna see me eat one real slow?" The scantily clad woman peeled off the skin and took a bite of the banana. "Mmmmmmm." Mojo's eyes widened and his jaw dropped open. "Oh yeah, it tastes so good." The woman moaned. "I know you wanna see more, big boy."

"I… Uh… I… Um." Mojo stammered.

"We interrupt this program for our scheduled late night news segment."

"WAIT NO! I didn't even get her name." Mojo whimpered.

An anchorwoman with brunette hair appeared on screen. "Good evening. Our top story tonight: The Mayor of Townsville; struck down by a semi-truck trailer. We have new details on the report including some new evidence found at the scene." The report on the TV showed a close-up of a broken pickle jar.

"In other news: The Powerpuff Girls fight against one another? We have some amateur footage of two of the Powerpuff Girls known as Bubbles and Buttercup fighting each other in downtown Townsville." The report showed cell-phone camera captured footage of the incident between Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup as they were arguing in the air. Mojo's jaw dropped once again and his right eye began to twitch.

"HOW DID I MISS OUT ON ALL OF THAT?! CURSES!" He exclaimed. Mojo shut off his TV and rushed over to his super computer. "I'll just do a quick Google search and I should find an article." Mojo browsed through the internet searches and found one worth reading on the Mayor. "Ah here we go."

He skimmed through the article looking at specific details. "The Mayor of Townsville was out of his office earlier today… supposedly just crossing the street when a truck came speeding down the road… paramedics have transported him to the hospital and is now in stable condition… the driver was brought in for questioning… a smashed pickle jar was also found at the scene that can be used as forensic evidence." Mojo finished reading.

"That's it? THAT'S ALL THEY HAVE TO SAY?" Mojo shouted in aggravation. "What about that incident with the Powerpuff Girls?" He searched for the incident about the girls, but his results were not to his satisfaction. "Powerpuff Girls fight each other; uploaded 4 hours ago on YouTube... I just saw that on the news! Powerpuff Girls fighting in fanart, Powerpuff Girls Fan Community on Facebook, Powerpuff Girls fighting in fanfiction… THEY DON'T HAVE ANYTHING ELSE ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED WITH THEM TODAY?" Mojo yelled in frustration. "DOUBLE CURSES!" He growled in anger.

He pondered for a bit until he then suddenly thought of an idea. "I could just hack into one of the cameras that was fixated on the street where the incident took place. That can give me an entire playback of the accident and to why the Powerpuff Girls were arguing in the first place, to then give me the knowledge that I would like to acquire, so I could learn of the misfortunes of the Mayor and the petty argument of the Powerpuff Girls, which I can somehow use to benefit myself!"

Mojo quickly got to work and started typing commands into his console. "Computer, find this location in Townsville." He clicked on the video of the incident with the girls.

"Tracking…" A female disembodied robotic voice spoke.

On screen, it showed an image of the Earth spinning around quickly and then finally stopping. It then zoomed in on the continent of North America, then the country of the United States of America, then the city of Townsville. "Townsville, U.S.A, located at 32°N by 212°W." The voice said.

"Computer, go to street view." Mojo snapped.

"Street view enabled." The voice said.

"Alright this should be the area…" Mojo started typing more commands and had bypassed his way to one of the street cameras. "Alright, I'm in! Let's take a look at the archive for the street camera footage." He clicked on one of the folders labeled with today's date and instantly became infuriated.

"NO ARCHIVED FOOTAGE!" He shouted angrily. Mojo slammed his hand on the desk in anger. "CURSES, CURSES, CURSES! The camera was probably not working or taken down for repair as there are previous dates recorded here."

He clicked around on some more folders until he stumbled on something that brought up his curiosity. "What's this?" He questioned. On the screen, there was a command labeled "live feed." When he clicked on it, he was sent into the view of the street camera, having complete control over the movement and zoom functions.

"WOW! I actually got into the live feed from one of the cameras!" His face lightened up a bit. It was late at night and the camera didn't have night vision feed, so it was hard to see. It also moved very slowly, almost at a snail's pace, with heavy restrictions on where it could turn to and zoom in on.

"Well, this definitely sucks." Mojo frowned. He slumped into his chair and was only using one hand to control the camera. He kept switching the camera's position back and forth near a streetlight and an alleyway. All of a sudden, the camera caught a glimpse of a figure in the dark from the alley. Mojo quickly sat up again to get a good view of the target. He zoomed into the alleyway and turned the volume up on his speakers to listen properly.

"Oh man! Oh man!" a voice said. "The Mayor almost died today… and it was because of me! It was my fault!" Mojo's expression went from curious to devious.

"It's okay bossss. You didn't mean to do it." Another voice spoke.

"Yeah, we didn't even get the pickles to eat." A third voice spoke.

A fourth voice spoke, but in complete gibberish and incomprehensible terms.

"LISTEN YOU GUYS! I'm probably a wanted criminal now. WE'RE ALL probably wanted criminals now. I can't go to jail man! I won't survive in there! I only have a grade 10 education!"

"Hey boss it's no problema. Remember the Powerpuff Girls had shown up and they started arguing and fighting with each other? Nobody probably noticed us when we ran off anyway because they were all distracted by them." The fifth voice reassured him.

"Hey you know what? You're right. Those dumb powderpuffs gave us an easy slip. HAHA!" The rest of the voices laughed along with him. "Alright let's head back to base camp and chill out." The five walked out into the street light and Mojo finally got to see with his eyes who exactly he was eavesdropping on.

"THE GANGGREEN GANG?!" Mojo yelled, surprised. "They caused the Mayor's accident?" Mojo began to scratch his chin in deep thought. "Hmmm… this gives me a great idea! This will then turn into an evil plan, then into a diabolical plan, which will then evolve into a master plan, and with that plan it will aid me to destroy the Powerpuff Girls and take over this city, and eventually THE WORLD! MWAHAHAHAHAHA!" Mojo cackled.

"But wait, for this plan, I plan on using my time machine, but I have not fully finished constructing all the components, such as the spatial coordinates. Therefore, I cannot carry out my evil plan and then my diabolical plan to its fullest, which in turn lowers a good outcome for my master plan! Curses!" Mojo said in frustration. He began to pace back and forth through the room.

"I might have to improvise here. This is… after all… the first time I will be using the machine, so I will need to test it out accordingly. The Ganggreen Gang will be forced to help me, as I will blackmail them with the information I have acquired. With their help, I can capture the Powerpuff Girls and send them through the time portal! It would be an unknown date and destination, but it wouldn't matter anyway as they would be trapped in space time, also known as… the fifth dimension." Mojo explained in a dramatic fashion.

"Hmm, I should make a reminder to buy more plutonium from that seller online."

* * *

The Ganggreen Gang were all pent up in their junkyard clubhouse. Ace, Snake, and Grubber were all playing poker on their table while Big Billy and Arturo were on the couch watching TV. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

"Who the heck is that?" Ace asked angrily.

"Just a friend." They answered back. Ace was suspicious, so he walked over to the door to answer it.

"Hello, my fellow green comrades." Mojo greeted. Mojo was wearing a dusty trench coat and large trilby hat to cover up his brain.

"Mojo Jojo? What are you doing here?" Ace asked him.

"I've come to issue you a proposition, a task that requires completing, a job that needs to get done." Mojo said in a suave manner.

"Not interested." Ace told him and was about to shut the door, but Mojo quickly put his foot in the doorway to block it from closing.

"Ah, but you didn't let me finish." Mojo said.

"Alright, what's in it for us?" Ace asked him and re-opened the door.

"Well… your reward is… YOU DON'T GET TO GO TO PRISON!" Mojo exclaimed. He took out a tape recorder playing Ace's voice saying "The Mayor almost died today… and it was because of me! It was my fault!" and had it on repeat.

Ace gasped, unsure of what to say next. Sweat dripping from his face. The other gang members stared in complete shock at the doorway.

"So… would you care to welcome me in?" Mojo smirked. "Oh, uh, be my guest." Ace said nervously.

"Excellent." Mojo said and strode his way in. "Come gather round boys… I have jobs for all of you." The rest of the gang joined Mojo on their dining table. "Now, listen carefully…"

* * *

The next day was a bright and sunny one in Townsville. The Utonium family had arrived in Townsville Park and had begun to setup a picnic in the grass. Buttercup laid the blanket out and Bubbles setup the plates while Blossom prepared the food. The Professor was busy setting up the umbrella. Once everything was setup and ready, Blossom handed out the sandwiches and condiments from the basket to everyone.

"Thanks Blossom!" Bubbles said and took a peanut butter and jelly sandwich from her.

"You're welcome!" She said back.

"Hey, Thanks sis!" Buttercup grabbed the ham sandwich with cheese from her.

"No problem." Blossom told her.

She flew over to the Professor who had been struggling to get the umbrella planted firmly in the ground. "There! That should do it." He said.

"Hey Professor, I've got your favorite here! Meat, cheese, lettuce, onions, tomatoes, and chili pepper!" Blossom said cheerfully.

"Why, thank-you Blossom." The Professor said and took the sandwich from her and sat down. Blossom took out a classic egg salad sandwich from the basket and sat down ready to eat.

 _This is great!_ She thought. _Bright skies, breezy winds, warm summer weather. It doesn't get any better than this._ She looked over at Buttercup and Bubbles. Buttercup was chewing her food in a funny way, with the food in her mouth all exposed and Bubbles was giggling with laughter over her sister's shenanigans. _Those two are finally seeing eye to eye again. That's great. I know I don't show it like Bubbles, but I still get heartbroken inside when any of us fight. They are my sisters and I will always love them, no matter what. I honestly don't know what I would do without them._

Blossom was about to take a bite out of her sandwich, until… without warning, the ground began to rumble and shake. All four of them quickly got up and began to look around in concern.

"Look!" Bubbles exclaimed.

Everyone turned their attention towards the city skyline in the distance and laid their eyes upon a giant robotic battle suit stomping through the streets of Townsville. Inside controlling the battle bot, was none other than the girls' archenemy.

"MOJO JOJO!" They shouted in unison.

"Good day Powerpuffs! I assure you, I'm not here to cause unnecessary chaos and destruction. I am simply here too… DESTROY THE MAYOR IN HIS WEAKENED STATE!" Mojo exclaimed.

"YOU FIEND!" Blossom shouted at him. "C'mon girls let's g…"

Blossom turned behind her only to see her sisters had vanished completely from her sight. "Girls?" She called out. "Where'd you guys go?" She glanced around with a confused expression and then turned towards the Professor. "Professor did you see where they went?" She questioned him.

"No, I…" The Professor's voice faltered when all of a sudden, the ground began to ripple apart. The ripple caused the Professor to be trapped in the middle between the two sides that were separating beneath him.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The Professor screamed in fear, as his hands barely missed grabbing the ledge before falling in the pit below. "Blossom, help me, please!" He called to his daughter.

"Oh my God." Blossom quickly rushed over to the edge of the pit. "Don't worry Professor, I've got you!" Blossom told him. She reached out for his hand, but just as he was about to grab hers...

*STOMP*

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Blossom screamed in pain.

Mojo had pinned her to the ground with his giant robot foot. As she struggled to get free, Mojo spoke "Look at what we have here. Poor wittle Blossom stuck under my foot, with no one else to help her, how sad." He said in a condescending tone.

Blossom growled at him. "Bubbles, Buttercup? Where are you guys?!" She exclaimed with a worried expression.

"You really think your sisters care to come save you?" Mojo asked her.

"OF COURSE!" Blossom answered harshly.

"HA! You would think that. After all, they do care for each other, right?" Mojo asked her again.

"YES! THEY DO." Blossom yelled in aggravation.

"Well…" Mojo paused.

The Professor was still hanging on the ledge and using all his strength to climb back up. He stretched out a hand towards Blossom, but just as she was trying to reach for it again...

"If they did, then maybe… THEY WOULD HAVE PREVENTED ME FROM DOING THIS!" Mojo shouted. He did a quick punt with his other robotic foot towards the Professor, just as his torso reached the surface. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Mojo cackled repeatedly.

"BLOSSOM!" The Professor screamed in agony as he fell into the pit below him.

"PROFESSOR!" Blossom screamed, completely terrified, as she witnessed her Father falling into the dark abyss.

* * *

"No... No, no, no." Blossom mumbled.

She sat up suddenly, breathing heavily and sweating immensely, tears in her eyes as well.

"Oh, thank God… it was just a dream." Blossom said aloud.

She wiped her eyes and pulled the covers off of her. _That whole thing… it was so bizarre. One moment, everything was fine… the next moment… I don't even want to think about it!_ Getting up from the couch she heard a voice call out to her.

"BLOSSOM, HURRY! I NEED YOUR HELP!" Blossom gasped, "PROFESSOR, I'M COMING!"

Blossom rushed up the stairs to her room where she heard his voice. She opened the door to find Bubbles and Buttercup about to charge up their eyebeams and fire at each other. The Professor had stumbled back in fear onto their bed. Blossom quickly darted into the middle of them right as they fired simultaneously and used her bubble shield power to absorb the blasts. Two small blasts rebounded back towards Bubbles and Buttercup, causing them to fly back into the walls opposite of them. Blossom halted her shield power and landed on the ground as Bubbles and Buttercup were rubbing their heads.

"THAT'S IT! THAT'S THE LAST STRAW!" Blossom shouted angrily. "I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! I'VE HAD IT WITH THE BOTH OF YOU."

Her attention jumped to Bubbles. "BUBBLES, YOU NEED TO STOP ACTING LIKE A BABY AND LEARN TO GROW UP! YOUR CHILDISH DEMEANOR ALWAYS CAUSES US TO BE ONE STEP BEHIND!"

Bubbles looked up at Blossom and almost instantly, tears began to form in her eyes and she started to sob.

Her attention then jumped to Buttercup. "AND FOR YOU BUTTERCUP, YOU NEED TO WORK ON YOUR ANGER MANAGEMENT! YOUR OUT OF CONTROL TEMPER ALWAYS MAKES US END UP IN THE WORST SITUATION POSSIBLE!"

"HEY MISS LEADER! YOU'RE NOT PERFECT EITHER!" Buttercup disputed.

"WELL COMPARED TO YOU TWO, I'M THE MOST BEHAVED AND RESPECTED INDIVIDUAL HERE!" Blossom yelled.

Buttercup flew up to her face. "OH YEAH?" Buttercup shouted.

"YEAH!" Blossom replied.

"ENOUGH!" The Professor hollered furiously at the top of his lungs.

The three of them all stopped what they were doing and turned their attention towards him. "If you three can't get along, then… I may have to seek counselling."

"What!" They exclaimed in unison.

"Professor, I wasn't even involved with this, until now!" Blossom said.

"Yes, but Blossom I just wanted your help to break up the fight, not add fuel to the fire."

"But, but I…"

"No Blossom, I'm sorry, I didn't want it come this far either, but if the three of you can't solve your problems on your own, we may need to seek help elsewhere." The Professor said sternly. "I wanted to go out and have a nice picnic today in the park after visiting the Mayor, but since the three of you can't co-operate, then it looks like I'm cancelling it."

"No!" Bubbles whined.

"Darn it!" Buttercup said flustered.

Blossom didn't say a word and just stared wide-eyed at the Professor from his statement. "If you three can work out your differences, then maybe I'll change my mind." The Professor said and left the room, closing the door behind him. The girls were then left with the room for themselves.

* * *

The three of them sat in opposite ends of the room, Bubbles on her small play table, Buttercup on the bed, and Blossom at her dresser mirror. After a couple hours of the three of them not saying anything to one another or doing anything in particular, Buttercup finally spoke up.

"Good job Blossom. Now the Professor thinks we're all deranged or something and we need extra help with our issues."

Blossom didn't say anything and just stared in the mirror.

"Yeah, great job Blossom." Bubbles also teased.

"Shut up Bubbles; don't copy what I just said." Buttercup contended.

"You shut up!" Bubbles flared back.

"No, you shut up!"

"No, you shut up!"

"No, you shut up!"

"No, you shut up!"

"No, you…"

"BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!" Blossom screamed.

The two of them stared at Blossom with wide-eyed expressions.

"I keep thinking about the Mayor and how we weren't there to save him. What happens if we can't save another loved one from a terrible accident? What happens if we just abandoned them and left them to die?" Blossom exclaimed.

Bubbles and Buttercup were silent; they glanced at each other for a second and then back at Blossom.

"For us to work together as a team, that requires us to get along as a family. Since we can't manage to do that, for now… I think we should split up the team."

"What!" Bubbles and Buttercup exclaimed.

"Blossom, you can't be serious!" Bubbles said.

"Yeah, even I think that's going too far overboard." Buttercup added.

"It's just temporarily." Blossom said. She floated over to one of the circular windows. "I'm going out for a bit."

"But Blossom!" Buttercup called out.

"Blossom… please… don't go." Bubbles wept softly.

"Listen girls, I've got a lot on my mind right now. Don't worry about me; I'll be back soon anyway."

Not saying another word, Blossom flew out of the window. Her sisters watched her leave in distress, concerned and worried for her well-being, but not chasing after her. Blossom flew at a moderate speed through the air, her expression dismal.

 _They don't care about me; they don't care about anyone…_ Some tears started to form in her eyes, but she quickly rubbed them out. She focused ahead and flew into Townsville.

* * *

"Okay you two in position?" Ace said over a small earpiece.

"Check boss!" Arturo responded.

"Duh, Hi Ace!" Billy also responded.

Big Billy and Lil' Arturo were stationed at a big tree near the fence surrounding Townsville Park. "What about you guys with that gas stuff?" Ace spoke again.

"We're almossst done." Snake replied. Grubber and him were in the back of an alleyway mixing some chemicals in a container.

Ace was leaning against a wall near a crosswalk. "Alright Mojo we're almost ready to go."

"Excellent, they should be making their afternoon rounds around Townsville anytime now." Mojo was in his lab making some quick adjustments to his time machine. "I'll meet you in the alleyway as soon as I finish here." Mojo spoke into his earpiece.

"Roger that, Ace out." Ace waited a few moments, until he saw a pink trail fly across the sky coming towards him in the distance. "Crap, are you guys ready yet? They're already on their way!" Ace said nervously.

"Distract them! That's your job anyway!" Snake replied. Ace was sweating nervously until he noticed it was just Blossom closing the distance. _It's just Blossom? Okay, I guess that makes it a bit easier._ He thought.

Blossom was glaring straight ahead, not looking down at anybody on the ground.

"YO, Blossom!" Ace called out.

"Huh?" Blossom answered confused. Then she looked down and saw him, the leader of the Ganggreen Gang in the flesh. "YOU!" She called out fiercely.

Ace did a small wave to her. "How ya doin?" He asked politely.

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT ACE!" Blossom shouted. "IF IT WEREN'T FOR YOU, THE MAYOR WOULDN'T BE IN THE HOSPITAL NOW AND MY SISTERS AND I WOULDN'T BE…" She realized she spoke too much.

"Wouldn't be what?" He questioned with a smug grin.

"NOTHING, FORGET THAT, ALL I KNOW IS YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID!" She started closing in on him, gritting her teeth in anger.

"Whoa! Whoa! Relax Blossom, I know you're really P.O.'d at me right now, but let's just take a second to calm down."

Just as Blossom was confronting Ace, Arturo stepped out from the bushes carrying a slingshot in hand and Billy with binoculars.

"She's gonna beat him up!" Billy blurted out.

"I almost got the angle." Arturo said.

Blossom reeled back her right arm, ready to throw a hard punch, while Ace was still trying to calm her.

"Just a little bit higher and… bull's-eye!"

A small rock fired from the slingshot and hit Blossom straight in the back of the head.

"OW!" Blossom grunted in pain and turned behind her to see who hit her.

"Uh oh." Big Billy and Arturo said in unison.

"BIG BILLY AND LIL' ARTURO! WHY I OUGHTA…"

"RUN FELLAS!" Ace shouted towards them and made a mad dash through the streets.

Blossom growled angrily and flew above them to see where they were heading. Arturo and Billy were heading out of the park gate on the far-left side, while Ace was running along the sidewalks close to some buildings. _I'll get those two later._ She thought and flew down to street level to catch up with Ace. Ace was sprinting as fast as he could, with Blossom easily trailing behind him. She could have easily increased her speed, but didn't want to because she was enjoying the thrill of chasing him down.

"Are you guys ready? SHE'S RIGHT BEHIND ME!" Ace yelled into the earpiece.

"We're good here. Get ready to grab a mask when you get here." Snake answered.

"Perfect." Ace said aloud, reassuring himself.

Ace hastily turned into a corner and Blossom caught an easy glimpse of where he went.

 _HAH! That idiot, he went into an alleyway! He's trapped now and there's no way out. Oh, he's going to get it now._ She convinced herself. However, when Blossom turned the corner into the alleyway, she was surprised to see Ace, Snake, and Grubber all wearing gas masks over their faces.

"What the…" She stammered.

"Nighty night, Blossom." Ace said smugly and dropped two smoke grenades on the ground in front of her. Thick dark smoke began to fill the air around them. Blossom started to cough heavily while the three gang members laughed through their masks.

*Cough cough* "You *cough* jerks." *cough cough* "What is this *cough* stuff?"

"It's just a little knockout gas, no big deal." Ace told her.

"Knockout *cough* gas?" Blossom stuttered. Blossom started to feel weak, her eyelids became heavy. She collapsed onto the floor, trying with all her strength to get back up, but was to no avail. Ace, Snake, and Grubber all continued to laugh at the downed Powerpuff. Once the smoke had cleared, a figure from behind them emerged, holding in his arm a large round metal object. He marched towards Blossom and looked her straight in the eye.

"Mo…Jo." Blossom managed to say in her still conscious state.

"MWAHAHAHAHA! I have finally defeated you and your sisters Blossom! For I, Mojo Jojo, have finally won the battle against you, with a plan that I thought of and executed perfectly! Since you fell for the trap, it is a genius plan, but if you didn't fall for it, the plan would be a failure, but you did, therefore the plan is known as a genius plan and furthermore…"

Blossom's eyes had already shut and she blacked out from the effects of the gas.

"ALRIGHT, WE GET IT ALREADY!" Ace shouted at Mojo. "We probably didn't even need this gas in the first place." He joked.

Ace and the rest of the gang took off their masks. "Alright Billy and Arturo, you guys can come back here now." Ace told them through the earpiece. "Can you guys believe that actually worked?!" He struck up a conversation with his friends.

"I know man that was insssane." Snake said amused. Grubber made some spittle noises in agreement. However, Mojo turned around to them unamused.

"Alright where are the other two?" Mojo asked.

"What're you talking about?" Ace replied.

"Where are Bubbles and Buttercup? The other two Powerpuff Girls!"

"Oh, they didn't show up." Ace said.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY DIDN'T SHOW UP?" Mojo shouted furiously.

"IT WAS JUST BLOSSOM MAN, COOL IT!" Ace rebutted.

"CURSES! Now I have to change the entire part of my next set of plans." Mojo looked at Blossom's unconscious body and thought _I still need to test the time machine. Even though it's only one of the Powerpuff Girls, this can still change things in my favor._ He smiled with an evil grin. Mojo placed his time machine down on the ground and took out a small handheld device. He began to make some quick calculations and calibrations to the time machine.

In that time frame, Billy and Arturo had arrived. "Hey we did it Boss!" Arturo commended Ace as he saw the unconscious Powerpuff lying on the ground.

"Yeah, but this guy wanted all three of em." Ace pointed to Mojo.

"Hey, were you guys having a party or something? How come Blossom is asleep?" Billy asked in a dumbfounded manner. He looked at Blossom on the ground, picked her up and held her in his arms. "Aww, she looks so cute, like a little dolly." He rocked her back and forth gently in his arms. "Can we keep her Ace?" Billy asked.

"No Billy, we cannot." Ace said fed up with Billy's gentle nature. He turned his attention towards Mojo. "So, Mojo… this whole time-machine thing, how does it work?"

Mojo finished with his calibrations and faced Ace and the rest of the gang. "For me to explain all of that to you would take a very, very long time, and that time, which I need, is something I cannot waste on you. However, I can easily demonstrate it to you with a simple push of a button. So, would the five of you care to take a step back?"

The Gang did as he said and all took a big step backwards.

"Now… behold yourselves upon what you are about to witness. For I, Mojo Jojo, have built the world's first and greatest! Not to mention…"

"ALRIGHT, JUST PUSH THE DAMN BUTTON ALREADY!" Ace yelled impatiently.

Mojo frowned at him and proceeded to press the small red button on the handheld device. The circular pad on the ground slowly started to glow a light blue color. Everyone stared in awe at the device, including Mojo. All of a sudden, a flash of bright light hit them. All of them shielded their eyes as fast as they could from the strobe effect. As soon as it had begun, it ended. The six of them re-opened their eyes to see the device now held a portal the same size of the entire time pad on the ground.

"YES! YES! IT WORKED! I AM A GENIUS!" Mojo remarked. "It looks like everything is stable." Mojo said as he checked the readings on his device to be safe.

The whole Ganggreen Gang stared in awe at the portal. They moved a little closer to inspect it. Inside the portal was a swirling vortex of black and white color, spinning in a clockwise direction.

"I don't believe it." Ace said mesmerized.

"Incredible." Arturo commented.

"Sssssick dude." Snake hissed.

"It's really big!" Billy stated.

Even Grubber blurted out some spit in amazement.

"Alright, everything seems to be in order, now to just…" Mojo paused to look around for Blossom and noticed Billy was still cradling her in his arms.

"EXCUSE ME LARGE ONE! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING WITH THE POWERPUFF GIRL IN YOUR ARMS?" Mojo barked.

"Nothing." Billy responded.

"You're right nothing. Throw her into the portal, now!" Mojo exclaimed.

Billy looked at Blossom in his arms, fully unconscious, in a sleeping state. Then he looked at Ace and gave him a somber look.

"Do what he says Billy." Ace told him.

"Oh… Okay." Billy said sadly. Billy gently lowered his arms near the portal. "Bye-bye Blossom." He said and let her go. She dropped into the portal, falling into the spiral below. Billy stepped back and Mojo quickly closed up the portal.

"YES! THE POWERPUFF GIRLS ARE NO MORE! BLOSSOM IS TRAPPED ENDLESSLY FLOATING THROUGH TIME AND SPACE ONLY TO END UP IN AN UNKNOWN DESTINATION AND TIME PERIOD, WHILE HER FAMILY HAS NO IDEA WHERE SHE COULD HAVE GONE! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Mojo laughed evilly.

"Alright Mojo, we helped do your dirty work. This is a good thing for us too, but I still want that tape recorder."

"Oh, no problem, here you go." Mojo said politely and handed them the tape recorder.

Ace grabbed it from him, threw it on the ground and smashed it to pieces with his foot.

"It was a pleasure doing business with you." Mojo said smugly.

"Yeah, whatever. C'mon guys, let's blow this joint." Ace and the rest of the Ganggreen Gang headed out of the alleyway, leaving Mojo alone with his machine.

 _FOOLS!_ Mojo thought. _For now, you'll stay safe from harm, but in due time my Green Gangster friends. Once I take over this wretched city, I'll be rid of vermin like you. Soon… you'll be spinning in your graves…_

 _ **END OF CHAPTER 2**_

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:** **It's done, it's finally done... *Gasps for air.***

 **This is only chapter two and it took me SO FREAKIN LONG TO WRITE AND EDIT. I ran into a lot of issues with writing this chapter and this is only the back story! Not even the main stuff! (Lol). I think this was the hardest part of the story to write, honestly. Not saying that writing the rest is going to be a synch, but it was tough thinking of a proper, detailed enough back story for this.**

 **Some Clarification**

 **\- The dialogue between Bubbles and Buttercup arguing at the same time I left completely for the reader to interpret what they are saying.**

 **\- The reason why Bubbles and Buttercup are fighting in the first place won't be revealed... for now...**

 **\- The lines used to separate certain sections are meant as scene changes. (I don't know why, but it wouldn't let me just do asterisks).**

 **\- I tried to make the fighting between Bubbles and Buttercup not completely one-sided. You can see that Bubbles is trying to break out of her soft side, but not fully reaching that point yet. Buttercup is being even more aggressive and hot-tempered than she usually is.**

 **\- I ended up going back and re-writing a bunch of parts. A portion of a longer fight scene between Bubbles and Buttercup was cut because I felt it just dragged on for too long. Also, I was planning on doing a scene with the Mayor in the hospital, but I suck with hospital drama scenes, so that went out the window. (I still have these saved, they are incomplete, but maybe I'll share them later).**

 **\- Blossom's dream makes her feel even more upset with her sisters. It causes her to think they won't be there for her or anyone else. Also... foreshadowing!**

 **\- Ace's role is pretty significant in this chapter. (I wonder why? ;)**

 **\- The Mayor and Ms. Bellum will make another appearance later on.**

 **Trivia**

 **\- The Deja vu part right at the very beginning was a reference to the PPG episode "Octi Evil." When the Narrator was speaking mid-sentence only to be interrupted by Blossom telling Buttercup to shut up.**

 **\- Clear "Back to the Future" reference right at the beginning when introducing Mojo.**

 **\- My favorite part to write was Mojo in his lair. The television part cracked me up when I thought of it. XD**

 **\- The character "Dr. Freeman" was actually a nod to one of my favorite video game series of all time... "Half-Life" (VALVE MAKE HALF-LIFE 3 PLZ!)**

 **\- Mojo kind of broke the 4th wall and went all meta when he read some of the searches on his computer about PPG in fanart and fanfiction.**

 **\- A little nod to my fan page Powerpuff Girls Fan Community on Facebook ;) facebook(dotcom)/ppgfancom**

 **\- The time machine's design was inspired from Stewie Griffin's own from Family Guy.**

 **Thank-you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed and please stay tuned for more! I have chapter three already finished actually, I just need to edit a few things and it should be up soon. It's not as long as this, but its still looking good. I will post updated info also on my FB page as well. So please, if you like, check my page out and I could share some of your stories as well! facebook(dotcom)/ppgfancom**

 **Thanks...**

 **-GoldMatt 007, Matthew**


	3. Keeping Your Sanity

_**Same As It Never Was**_

 _ **Chapter 3**_

 _ **Keeping Your Sanity**_

Blossom glanced into the kitchen and saw that it was in a complete pigsty. Dirt and dust all over the counters, dishes unwashed, some broken, and even bugs crawling on the floor going after spilled food.

"BUBBLES, THE KITCHEN IS A COMPLETE MESS!" Blossom shouted at her angrily. "IN FACT, THE WHOLE HOUSE IS TRASHED! HOW CAN YOU LIVE LIKE THIS?"

"Well Blossom, let me just make it clear to you that this living space is no longer inhabited by me or anyone else for that matter." Bubbles said in an intelligent, but snobbish tone. Her tone instantly shifted back to her care free one. "This place is just used as a safe house now ever since it got F'd up. Got a new pad that's off the chain and way better than this old dump anyway."

Blossom looked at her with a shocked expression, mouth open and her right eye twitching for a second. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I know it's a little overwhelming for you, but you just gotta accept it. Okay? I'll tell ya after." Bubbles said reassuringly as she started walking again.

Blossom's face turned red with anger and she gritted her teeth in anger at her sister as she walked away. Blossom was about to shout at her again, but halted herself from doing so. _It's okay._ She thought, trying to calm herself from Bubbles' impulsiveness. _The Professor can clearly explain to me what happened and hopefully how we can fix this. Knowing that Bubbles has become like this is just one of the reasons I'm eager to go back to my time. Ugh, now I feel like a hypocrite kind of, wanting her to change... but then again not at all like_ _this._ She began to float forward again. _I wonder how Buttercup is like, probably still the same as ever._

As the two of them entered the kitchen, Blossom noticed Bubbles had stepped over the tripwire instead of just floating over it like her. She commented her on this action.

"You know you could have just floated over that." Blossom said to her.

Bubbles looked back at her with a smug face. "Well, I can't defy gravity any more like you can." She replied.

"What do you mean you can't…?" Blossom stopped mid sentence as she realized something. "You… you lost your powers?" Blossom asked with a worried expression.

Bubbles sighed, arms crossed, looking at the ground. "Like I said… it's a long story." Bubbles turned back and started walking towards the fridge.

As soon as Blossom heard this news, she immediately felt remorse for fighting with her sister and began to apologize. "I'm so sorry… I didn't know… I hit you pretty hard."

"Yeah, don't worry I'm fine." Bubbles reassured her. She opened the fridge and stretched her arm out to reach for a can of grape soda. "I'd take the physical abuse over the mental any day." She motioned to Blossom. "Want one?"

Blossom shook her head. "I'm okay, thanks."

"Suit yourself." Bubbles said. She opened up the can and took a big gulp of the soda while Blossom just kept watching her with a concerned look. After a few minutes, Bubbles broke the silence.

"He's taken complete control over Townsville with his damn robot army he created. All of the citizens, our friends and allies, have mostly become slaves to his doing. Others tried to rebel, even some of our own enemies, but were unsuccessful, and unfortunately were not spared from the carnage. Nations from around the world have tried to help, but he had constructed a system to surround Townsville with an invisible energy field that is impenetrable from the outside. Nobody gets in, or out. How is he able to do all this, you may ask? I suggest that he has an upgraded time machine that can travel to certain destinations at any given time. He then proceeds to steal any future technology and put it to use now in the present time. He's playing it cautious though, and not doing anything too drastic to completely mess with the timeline. Also, would you like to know what our dear, sweet, sister Buttercup is doing in all this?" Bubbles asked Blossom in a delightful manner. Blossom silently nodded her head towards Bubbles. "She's… helping… him." Bubbles said.

"Wha… what?" Blossom said in confusion.

"That's right… our sister is helping that maniacal monkey's quest in world domination." Bubbles said sarcastically. "Can you believe that she could just betray us like that?"

"No, no way." Blossom said in denial. "Mojo probably did something to her. H-He's manipulating her, he's using her. Buttercup would never give in to helping Mojo!"

"Maybe… but shortly after you went missing, so did she." Bubbles explained. "I couldn't do anything about it because I had no clue where she had gone. Then some people apparently started seeing her showing up with Mojo's robot escorts, floating around making them carry out orders. One time, I was gathering up loot in some guy's apartment and I saw her for myself. Now she looks like the friggin' Terminator with super powers. Half her body is robotic and the other half is normal. I had confronted her and started questioning her about what the hell she was doing. All she had to say was "serve Mojo or die." I was like "bitch please," and I booked it out of there as fast as I could; jumped across a couple of rooftops, slid down a fire escape and lost her in an alleyway dumpster. I would've kicked her ass, if she didn't bring out that damn laser arm cannon."

Blossom had an awkward expression on her face. "So… like a cyborg?" she asked.

"Yeah, pretty much." Bubbles said while taking another sip.

"So, what's that trap there for anyway?" Blossom asked her.

Bubbles finished her sip "Mostly for looters, not as simple as you think, it's actually hooked up to two deodorant cans and a jet torch lighter in the middle to create a home-made flame thrower, ha-ha." Bubbles laughed and took another sip. Blossom looked behind her at the door way and cringed as she saw the setup of two aerosol cans on both sides and the dangerous high velocity lighter taped on the wall.

"Oh geez." She said fearfully.

"Yeah, well, ever since I lost my powers I had to get craftier, and learn to do things a lot differently. Without the ability to fly, use heat vision, and all that shit, I had to train myself in different forms of fighting. I dedicated myself to learning martial arts, acrobatics, ninjutsu, and firearm training." Bubbles said proudly.

"You learned all of that… in five years?" Blossom asked her, astonished by her goals.

"Five years may not seem like a really long time, but a lot can happen and be accomplished." Bubbles said.

"Okay Bubbles. That's great and all, but where are Buttercup and the Professor?"

*BURP*

Bubbles belched really loud in front of Blossom.

"Excuse you!" Blossom said, waving her hand in front of her out of disgust.

"For Buttercup's whereabouts… I don't know and I honestly don't care." Bubbles said angrily.

"BUBBLES, HOW COULD YOU BE LIKE THAT?" Blossom yelled.

"SHUT IT BLOSSOM!" Bubbles started getting enraged again. "YOU WEREN'T HERE, YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED AFTER ALL THIS SHIT WENT DOWN, OKAY!" Blossom quickly kept quiet and looked at Bubbles with a somber look in her eyes. Bubbles sighed and took another sip from the can.

"You know, even back when I was five, I loved grape soda. Whenever we had a hard day or I felt sad, I would drink a bunch of this stuff and get an amazing sugar rush. It used to help numb my pain and make me feel better, but now… now it just makes me feel worse." Bubbles said while crushing the can in her hand. "You want to see the Professor… right?" Blossom nodded to her question. "Well… he's out back." Bubbles walked over to the backyard sliding glass door and opened it up with Blossom floating behind her.

"Okay, thank-you Bubbles, that's all I needed to know. After I talk with him, hopefully we can fix this whole messed up timeline thing and send me back to my time period to prevent this from happening. Blossom floated out to the yard and quickly glanced around.

"Uh, I don't see him." She told Bubbles.

Bubbles stood at the glass door, not saying a word and merely pointed to a spot in the yard. Blossom looked towards the direction Bubbles was pointing at and could not believe her eyes at what she saw… she immediately felt her heart sank. In the corner of the yard, next to a tree was a small wooden Cross with a rough patch of grass and dirt piled up to it. Blossom floated over to the spot and dropped down to her knees. She silently read the words printed onto the plaque in the middle.

"You are my creator, my father, my hero. Rest in Peace… Professor Utoinum." Blossom felt a huge fiery sensation burning in her throat. She couldn't speak, she felt like she couldn't breathe. Her eyes quickly began to well up with tears.

"Professor… oh God… No, please no. No, no he can't be… NO!" She screamed. After learning the truth of her father's fate, Blossom covered her hands over her eyes and began to weep uncontrollably. Bubbles came behind Blossom and put her hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry you had to find out like this…" she said softly.

"How Bubbles? H…How did it happen?" Blossom managed to say.

"It was about two weeks after you went missing, and the night after Buttercup did too. After that day, I still don't even know how I kept my sanity all these years…"

 _ **END OF CHAPTER 3**_

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:** **And that concludes chapter three. Man... I had a great time writing this one. Blossom is still trying to wrap her head around this whole thing and at the end, she sees how dire things have truly become. Bubbles really shows how much she has changed, both physically and mentally. Why her personality has changed and how she lost her powers will be revealed soon... You also get to hear a bit about how Buttercup ended up. More on her will come surely as well as another returning character.**

 **Some clarification**

 **\- This chapter was pretty short, but I think its still strong enough to stand on its own.**

 **\- I wanted Bubbles to lose her powers because I felt that it would make an interesting plot point and add more depth in her character development/transformation. Also, it would make for some badass fight scenes later on. (lol)**

 **\- I wanted to experiment with a few things about Bubbles' new personality and attitude. She still sounds like herself, with her high-pitched voice, but just more serious and sarcastic in tone now with a tragic backstory.**

 **\- Mojo got real busy in those 5 years. He couldn't take over the world in that time, but he managed to seize entire control over Townsville.**

 **\- Buttercup never intended to be a villain, not even in chapter two with how she was behaving in the flashback. Like Blossom stated, it was something Mojo did to her.**

 **\- Bubbles' grape soda acts as her alcohol, she uses it to forget, to ease her pain and make her feel better. Since she's only 10, she can't drink obviously, but I wanted to put this in to make her a bit edgy. (lol)**

 **\- The old Bubbles could never deal with this on her own. Someone had to be influencing her and giving her confidence to stay strong... but who?**

 **-The story gets dark for real this time.**

 **\- Blossom thought she could just talk to the Professor and he would help get this thing sorted out. Boy, was she wrong...**

 **Trivia**

 **\- Bubbles' dialogue about "easing the pain" was inspired by a character named Max Payne from the "Max Payne" video games. The character was an NYPD detective that lost his wife and daughter in a violent murder. He then goes into a fit of rage; doing everything in his power to get revenge on the people that killed his family. He is also a heavy alcoholic, and tries to forget his past as much as he can by drinking his problems away.**

 **That's all for now, thank you for reading, and as always stay tuned for more! Next chapter will be another flashback chapter, but this time a recount from Bubbles herself on the details regarding the Professor's death. I don't plan on it being as long as the first flashback, it will be short and to the point.**

 **Thanks...**

 **-GoldMatt 007, Matthew**


	4. Lost

**_Same As It Never Was_**

 ** _Chapter 4_**

 ** _Lost_**

 ***Townsville – 5 years ago, 2 weeks after Blossom went missing.***

"WHERE COULD SHE HAVE GONE?!" Bubbles wailed, sitting on her bed. Her crying began to annoy Buttercup who had been sitting in the opposite corner of their bedroom.

"BUBBLES, WOULD YOU SHUT IT ALREADY!" Buttercup complained. "If she truly cared about us, she wouldn't have run off like that."

"D-don't say that." Bubbles sniffed. "She said she would be back. M-maybe something happened to her, maybe she got lost, o-or something. Oh, I hope she didn't get kidnapped… or worse." Bubbles said, trying to stay positive.

"Yeah, like that would happen." Buttercup said sarcastically. "Face it Bubbles, she hates us! She doesn't care about us anymore, after all those mean things she said to us, she decided to just get up and leave!"

Bubbles' eyes began to overflow with water at this point. "No, no, no! That's not true! She would never abandon us!" Bubbles bawled. She continued to sob loudly while Buttercup stayed in the corner, arms crossed and enraged with anger. "Believe what you want, I don't care." Buttercup said.

The door to their bedroom suddenly opened up to Professor Utonium standing in the doorway, holding a cup of coffee in one hand and a stack of papers in the other. His appearance was disastrous; unclean and unshaven, eyes droopy and bloodshot, hair in a mess and large beard stubble had grown around his face and chin. He also had some stains on his lab coat, that he didn't bother washing out.

"Did you two find out anything after your patrol?" He asked his daughters.

"No, we got nothing." Buttercup responded.

The Professor let out a depressing sigh. "Well, we can't give up. Can you two please take these papers and fly down to the police station? Tell them it's another file for a missing person's claim."

"But Professor, we already…"

"Sure Professor, we'll take care of it." Bubbles interrupted Buttercup.

Bubbles flew over and took the file folder and papers from the Professor. "Thanks Bubbles." The Professor told her.

"No problem, but um, Professor, you really need to look after yourself. You don't look to well." Bubbles told him.

Professor Utonium looked down at his lab coat and stretched it a bit, scratched his beard, and sniffed his arm pits, to breathe in a revolting smell that left him with a disgusted expression. "You're right on that one. I've been so stressed lately and I haven't been able to take proper care of myself."

"I know, but don't worry Daddy, we'll find her." Bubbles said as she hugged her father.

He hugged her back tightly as he shed a single tear. "Thank-you sweetie, I know we will."

They let go of one another and Bubbles turned towards Buttercup. "C'mon Buttercup, let's go." She said as she flew towards one of the windows. Buttercup reluctantly got up and floated towards her, frowning and arms still crossed. "Okay Professor, we'll be back soon." Bubbles waved to the Professor.

"Alright, you two be careful now!" He called back. With that, the both of them shot off into the sky. As the Professor finished waving, his smile quickly turned back into a frown. _Now I have to deal with that damn lawyer._ The Professor thought. _That son of a…_

* * *

Bubbles and Buttercup flew across the sky towards Townsville. They descended below into the city, flying just above street level. Along the way, they started to converse. "Why didn't you tell him we were already at the Station earlier?" Buttercup asked Bubbles.

"We have to deliver this file anyway Buttercup, just calm down for once, please!" Bubbles retaliated.

"What's the point Bubbles? Why even bother? You know how Townsville's law enforcement is. It's pointless going to them half the time." Buttercup argued.

"Listen, I'm just trying to help the Professor out. Can't you see his condition? How he's feeling hurt on the inside? That I'm feeling hurt? You're the only one who seems like you don't care that she's gone!" Bubbles said.

"That… That's not true! Buttercup hesitated. Of course I care for her!"

"Yeah, well why don't you act like it?" Bubbles rebutted. Bubbles increased her speed and passed Buttercup who trailed behind. Buttercup kept flying at a steady pace, feeling depressed and a little embarrassed from what Bubbles told her.

* * *

Later that night, Bubbles and Buttercup were getting ready for bed, when they could overhear the Professor talking over the phone in another room. They stopped what they were doing, looked at each other for a brief second and floated to the door to listen.

"Yes, I know sir, it was very wrong of them and I will make sure it won't ever happen again. Yes, yes, I understand - Alright sir, thank-you. I will be in contact with the insurance company in the morning. Thanks, goodbye." Bubbles and Buttercup backed off the door and stared at each other with worried facial expressions.

"The Professor is going to have to pay for the damages we did to that guy's office building." Bubbles said.

"I know, it's all our fault." Buttercup said.

"I wish we could make it up to him." Bubbles spoke softly.

"I wish you didn't knock me into that other building in the first place." Buttercup scolded.

"You made me really angry, Buttercup. I'm still upset with you, yah know. From all the mean things you said, and how badly you hurt me!" Bubbles said, narrowing her eyes.

"Oh, sure! Blame me like always! It's not like you aren't at fault here either!" Buttercup said sarcastically. "You know Bubbles, why do you always have to be overly sensitive to certain things all the time? When you get emotional, cry and throw a fit, you crave attention. Pointless, stupid, attention."

"I DO NOT!" Bubbles yelled in a raspy voice, tears starting to form once again.

"Yes, you do! YOU ALWAYS DO! You always act so childish, naïve, and at times, even brainless! You can never take charge to do things for yourself! Why I bet… I bet why Blossom left… was probably something to do WITH YOU!" Buttercup said, harshly. Bubbles didn't say a word, and just continued to sob quietly. She grabbed Octi and headed for the door.

"GO AHEAD! CRY TO PROFESSOR! HE'S ALWAYS GOING TO BE THERE TO COMFORT YOU, AIN'T HE?"

Just as Bubbles reached the door, she stopped. Her head still facing the door ahead.

"Buttercup, you are a stubborn, reckless, and selfish person. You think I was the lone cause of Blossom leaving? Think about it yourself." She turned her head to face her. "YOU ARE ALWAYS MEAN TO EVERYONE AND YOU HAVE TO PICK ON PEOPLE LIKE A BULLY! YOU ALWAYS PICKED FIGHTS WITH HER, INSTEAD OF TRYING TO REASON! NOW THAT SHE'S GONE, YOU DON'T EVEN CARE!" Bubbles was out of breath from her yelling and stopped to catch it back, while Buttercup just stared at her in complete shock and disbelief.

"What kind of sister are you… what kind of person are you, Buttercup?" Bubbles said, as she turned around to leave, slamming the door behind her. She floated over to the Professor's room to sleep, as he was still busy with things and had not come to bed yet. She settled down on the far-left side of the bed, pulling the covers over her. Bubbles' eyes were watery, but her face was still enraged with anger. Buttercup went to her own bed side, laid down, and stared at the ceiling while huffing under her breath and making her face up. She turned over on her side, facing the left side of the bed, where right next to her, was Blossom's pink sheets. As Buttercup glanced over at them, a worried expression crossed her face. Her eyes became tight and droopy, as a few tears began to seep out from them. She sat up in bed, sobbing quietly for a few moments. A little while later, Buttercup got out of bed to look outside of one of the circular windows. She stared off into the night sky, with the stars glistening brightly; her mind in deep thought about the previous events that took place. Buttercup turned back around and headed to her closet. She changed into her normal outfit and flew back towards the window. Buttercup slowly pushed the window sill open; a rush of cold air struck her upon impact. Still sulking her head in sorrow, Buttercup looked back at the bedroom once again before letting out a deep sigh. She turned back towards the window, floated outside and closed it behind her. With that, she flew off into the night.

* * *

Bubbles woke up the next morning and stretched her arms upwards, yawning a great big yawn. She rubbed her eyes to adjust them to the daylight peering in from the window into the Professor's bedroom. Bubbles wearily got up out of bed and floated out of the bedroom into the hallway. She passed her bedroom door where her sister resided, not bothering to look inside, and went straight to the bathroom to brush her teeth. She washed her face with some water to help waken up her senses a bit more and began to brush her teeth. Once she finished up in the bathroom, she went downstairs, still in her PJs, to have some breakfast. As she wondered into the kitchen, she grabbed a bowl and some cereal from the cupboard, and floated towards the fridge for some milk. She saw that the Professor had left her a note on the door. It read "Gone to do some groceries. Will be back soon. – Love Prof." She sighed as she reached for the milk and began to fix the meal together. She poured the cereal out into the bowl and slowly filled the bowl with milk. As she took a bite and chewed her food, her eyes glanced around the room, noticing how something felt off. The house seemed eerily vacant… She knew she hadn't seen the Professor before she had woken up, but she also hadn't bothered to check on Buttercup. Bubbles knew that they were on bad terms, but she thought she would at least check on Buttercup. She slowly swallowed her food and called out to her seemingly missing family member.

"Buttercup? You up yet?"

No response.

"You're gonna sleep in all day? Okay then."

Bubbles shrugged it off at first and continued eating. When she finished her meal, she got up from the table and floated upstairs to their bedroom.

"Buttercup? Hello? Can't you answer someone when they call your name? Sheesh!"

As Bubbles opened the door to the room however, there was no sign of Buttercup anywhere.

"She's not here." Bubbles said upon realization. Bubbles sighed, rolled her eyes and went to get dressed.

She came back downstairs into the living room, thinking _Great. I'm all by myself now. Maybe… Maybe she went to help the Professor to get the groceries or something. Well good, she definitely needs to help out more anyway... I guess I'll just wait for them to come back, sit and watch some TV for now._ Bubbles floated into the living room and sat down on the couch to watch the TV. She started casually flipping through the channels to see what was on, but stopped when something caught her eye as she was browsing. A Townsville live news broadcast was in session, with several news crews and cameras catching a scene unfolding in the middle of downtown Townsville. Crowds of people were gathering nearby and a blonde-haired woman was reporting the event live.

"We are here in downtown Townsville with initial reports of an attack earlier today on one of the Townsville stock exchange buildings." The news reporter said. "It appears that the building was hit by a massive explosion, with witnesses claiming that some sort of 'robotic being' flew through the air and fired two missiles simultaneously at the building. Police and paramedics are on scene right now tending to any wounded. More updates on the w…"

The reporter stopped speaking all of a sudden and stared wide-eyed in the distance behind the camera's view. The camera operator turned 180 degrees in the direction to where the woman was staring at. In that instance, the camera got a glimpse of a militaristic humanoid robotic figure, hovering high in the air. A sleek black exterior hid its chrome metal exoskeleton, with a dark menacing stare from its pulsating red eyes.

"Oh my God." A man from the crowd said.

"What's it doing?" A woman from the crowd said.

"Is it going to attack us?" Another crowd member spoke up.

"What is that thing?" Bubbles said, while watching the live broadcast.

From the robot's point of view, it looked down upon the crowd in the distance and began to scan them through its technologically advanced heads-up display unit. Within its sensors, the robot detected the bio metric information analysis of each of the citizens.

"SCANNING." It said in a typical deep low robotic voice. "MULTIPLE ORGANIC LIFE FORMS DETECTED. ASSESSING… MULTIPLE TARGETS CONFIRMED."

It held out its right arm, instantly morphing into a laser canon. "OBJECTIVE: TERMINATE ALL LIFE FORMS WITHIN AREA."

The laser canon started charging up, as a bright red light started glowing from the barrel. The crowd of people immediately erupted in panic, as they witnessed the beam fire in a deadly straight line towards them. Bubbles gasped in great fear, covering her mouth, but still keeping watch. Many citizens were caught in the crossfire, and were left on the ground severely wounded. Some of them not moving. The camera operator, while still being able to capture some of the carnage, was hit by one of the beams, dropping the camera to the ground, showing a fixed street view of the sidewalk upon impact, while people were still fleeing in terror from the attacks.

"Oh my God! Jeff! JEFF!" The news reporter hollered out of view. "Oh God… NOT JEFF! NO… NO PLEASE!"

The news reporter sobbed in the background for a brief couple of seconds. She looked over and saw the camera laying on the ground and ran over to it. As she picked it up, she pointed it directly to her face and shouted into it "POWERPUFF GIRLS! WHEREVER YOU ARE… PLEASE SAVE U…"

The camera feed was instantly cut and went to a static picture on the TV screen displaying the message 'PLEASE STAND BY' in capital letters.

*KABOOM!*

All of a sudden, a loud explosion set off in the middle of downtown Townsville, mere miles away from the Utonium house. This immediately startled Bubbles, as she reacted by yelping in fear. Bubbles flew over to the sliding glass door leading to the backyard and gasped at what she saw. In the distance, she could see fire and smoke rising, filling the air from one of the buildings.

"Oh no." Bubbles spoke softly. "I… I have to go! I need to help them! Buttercup, Professor, please be okay." Bubbles rushed for the front door, ready to fly off towards Townsville, when right on cue, the Professor burst through the door, panting heavily. He quickly locked the door from the inside and turned towards Bubbles.

"Professor! There you are!" Bubbles said, somewhat relieved.

"Bubbles, sweetie, are you okay? I just went out to do a few errands and on my way driving home, I heard a loud…"

"Explosion, right?" Bubbles said, finishing his sentence.

"Yes, precisely!" The Professor exclaimed. "I'm not sure what had caused it though."

"I saw a news report on TV about it! There was this evil looking robot thing firing laser beams and stuff in downtown Townsville. Oh, I hope those people are okay." Bubbles sounded concerned.

"Oh dear. Sweetie, you and Buttercup need to head there straight away!" The Professor commanded.

"Sure thing, but… I thought Buttercup was with you, helping to do the groceries." Bubbles responded.

"Wait, you mean, she's not home here with you?" Professor asked, dumbfounded. Bubbles shook her head worriedly.

"Oh no… No, no, no, no, NO! W-where could she have gone?" The Professor stammered. "I-I-I didn't even check on you two before I left. Y-You two have been working so hard this entire past week, so I thought… I-I'd j-just let you sleep in today… b-but Buttercup… I never thought she would… Oh dear God… WHAT KIND OF PARENT AM I?" The Professor broke down, falling to his knees, sobbing heavily, and covering his hands with his face.

"Oh, Professor, please, don't… *whimper* don't cry." Bubbles looked down at the Professor and felt so much sorrow and guilt, that her eyes started to tear up once more. Instead however, something changed within her. She closed her eyes tightly, her expression enraged, as she gritted her teeth and scrunched up her face. She re-opened her eyes with a determined look, wiped the tears from them, and flew face to face with the Professor. Moving his hands away from his face, she grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him violently to snap him out of his distressed state.

"Professor… PROFESSOR! LISTEN TO ME!" Bubbles shouted. "IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT! DO NOT BLAME YOURSLEF, ALRIGHT!? If the blame should be put on someone, it should be the three of us! But the fact is… None of us would EVER… think about leaving you, or each other. The three of us may fight, but we all love each other so much, that we would never, not in any lifetime, ever think to do that!" The Professor looked up and stared into Bubbles' big blue eyes, as he listened carefully at what she had to say.

"Look, I don't know what made those two just get up and leave like that, but you know what? I don't think they would ever leave on purpose. I know I wouldn't." Bubbles said, with the most confidence she ever had.

"Y-you're right Bubbles." The Professor sniffled, wiped the tears from his eyes and embraced his daughter, hugging her tightly. "Thank-you so much my little angel… For keeping my spirits up in times like these. We'll find them. No matter what it takes, we will find them."

"Yes… we will." Bubbles said, reassuringly. The two of them let go from one another, face to face once again. "Alright, I'm going to head into Townsville now to stop those things. I'll meet you back here as soon as I'm…"

*BOOM!*

A loud explosion ruptured the house, startling Bubbles and the Professor. "What in the world?" The Professor said.

"It's that robot! It came here!" Bubbles squeaked. "Professor, go down into the lab and hide for now. It's too dangerous for you to stay up here."

"But sweetie, I can't just leave y..."

"Professor please! I don't want you getting hurt. These robots are really dangerous. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. I just need you to be safe." Bubbles explained.

The Professor reluctantly nodded to Bubbles, and rushed to the door leading to the downstairs laboratory. Before closing the door, he peered out and asked Bubbles, "Are you sure you can handle them on your own?"

"I'm sure." Bubbles said, feeling completely determined.

"Okay… If you say so… But please be careful, alright?" Bubbles nodded back to him. The Professor gave a little smile back at her before finally shutting the door, leaving Bubbles on her own. Bubbles approached the area from where the explosion went off. It was near the side of the house, located next to the garage. A chunk of concrete wall was missing and had crumbled to pieces on the ground.

 _Alright Bubbles, you can do this. This stupid robot can't hurt you. I just need to focus, keep my eyes peeled and be ready for anything._

As Bubbles investigated the hole in the wall from inside the house, she saw no sign of the robot from the outside. _I don't see it anywhere. Why in the world would it just leave a hole in the wall, without attacking. Unless…_

"YEEP!" Bubbles shouted. An unknown force held Bubbles in mid-air. She tried with all her might to escape from its clutches, but it was too tight of a grip. "HRRRRNNGGH. LET GO OF ME!" She yelled. While still struggling, a few mechanical fingers mysteriously appeared out of nowhere, wrapped around her torso. Then, to a full mechanical hand, and finally, an entire arm. It was the robot, slowly fading out of an active camouflage. Bubbles looked up towards it and confirmed that it was the same type of robot that she had witnessed attacking the helpless people on TV.

"Wha… What do you want?" Bubbles spoke to it.

"MY MISSION OBJECTIVE IS TO TERMINATE THE POWERPUFF GIRL: BUBBLES AND PROFESSOR UTONIUM."

"Destroy us? Why did you attack those people in Townsville then?" Bubbles asked.

"FOOLISH HUMAN. THAT ACT OF TERRORISM WAS NOT GIVEN COMMAND TO MY PROCESSING UNIT. IT WAS INSTRUCTED TO DESTRTUCTO-BOT SERIAL NUMBER 0179 DASH 054361."

 _So that confirms it._ Bubbles thought. _There are more than one of these things and this one was sent to ambush us._ _Not given command though? Hmm…_ _Wait a second… These robots… They most likely have to be controlled by someone, but who? I think I have an answer to that._ "So, you weren't behind the attack in Townsville, huh? WELL WHO REALLY WAS?" Bubbles railed off.

"THAT INFORMATION IS CONFIDENTIAL AND IS NOT AUTHORIZED TO BE ACCESSED." The robot said.

"Oh really?" Bubbles replied smugly. "Well, I only know one other person in Townsville, or should I say… MONKEY, THAT BUILDS EVIL ROBOTS!" The robot stared at her blankly for a few seconds before responding.

"So… you've figured it all out, have you?" A familiar voice came through the robot's speakers.

"It was pretty obvious Mojo! Who else in Townsville would control these robots?" Bubbles joked.

"Well my dear, you are only half correct." Mojo said. "I do not control them directly, as their artificial intelligence succeeds a far greater level than any modern technological being. I simply give them a command, and they follow suit. All I have to do is sit back, listen, and observe."

 _DARN IT! I can't believe we never suspected him. He wasn't committing any crimes these past weeks, but we should have kept our suspicions up!_ "Alright, where are my sisters Mojo! I know you're behind their disappearances!" Bubbles exclaimed.

"Why Bubbles, I have no idea what you are talking about." Mojo lied sarcastically.

"DON'T YOU DARE LIE! I KNOW YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM!"

"Well... if you insist..." Mojo said politely. "I may or may not know about the disappearances of Blossom and Buttercup. However, in exchange for this information, you must tell me the current location of Professor Utonium."

"WHAT? NEVER!" Bubbles shouted.

"Are you sure about that?" Mojo taunted. "DESTRUCTO-BOT, GIVE 500 VOLTS!"

"AFFIRMATIVE."

The robot shocked Bubbles with a large amount of electricity.

"AARRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH." Bubbles closed her eyes and tensed up from the pain. The robot shocked her for a couple more seconds, until Mojo told it to stop.

"ENOUGH!" Mojo commanded.

Bubbles started panting heavily, not saying a word, or looking up at the robot.

"Are you sure, you don't have anything to say?" Mojo asked her.

Bubbles hesitated at first, she thought long and hard before answering.

 _I love my sisters dearly, but I can't risk the Professor's life. Besides, how can I even trust Mojo to tell me the truth of where they really are._

"I'D... I'D RATHER DIE THAN LET YOU HURT THE PROFESSOR!" Bubbles shouted.

"My, my Bubbles, that is a bold statement. We don't have to resort to such extreme measures now? Mojo spoke softly. "Tell you what, I'll give you a little riddle on your sisters' whereabouts. Your sister Buttercup, may be 'hanging about,' but your sister Blossom is 'out of this time.' "

"WHAT THE HECK IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?" Bubbles shrieked.

"Just a little riddle." Mojo said. "YOU CAN TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT!"

"THAT'S THE STUPIDEST RIDDLE EVER! AND I'LL NEVER TELL YOU WHERE HE IS, YOU DUMB-NINCOMPOOP, MONKEY BUTT DOO-DOO BRAIN!"

"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?!" Mojo snapped back. "THAT'S IT! DESTRUCTO-BOT! GIVE 1000 VOLTS!"

"AFFIRMATIVE."

The robot shocked Bubbles once again, causing even more pain to her than the first time.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Bubbles cried out in pain.

"No, need for your uncooperative nonsense. I have other methods..." Mojo sent out a message to the other robot in Townsville, contacting it through it's wireless communication signal.

"DESTRUCTO-BOT SERIAL NUMBER 0179 DASH 054361, REPORT TO THESE COORDINATES IMMEDIATELY!"

"AFFIRMATIVE. SETTING DESTINATION COORDINATES NOW." The robot said, stopping its massacre upon Townsville, and flew to the location set by Mojo.

Within a minute or so, the robot arrived at the Utonium household through the hole in the wall.

"NOW SCAN TO FIND ANY LIFEFORMS HIDING OUT IN THIS BUILDING!" Mojo commanded.

"SCANNING... LIFE-FORM DETECTED. DOWNSTAIRS, BASEMENT LEVEL LABORATORY."

"GO INTO THE LAB AND ELIMINATE UTONIUM!" Mojo Jojo commanded through the robot's speakers.

"UNDERSTOOD. OBJECTIVE HIGHLIGHTED: ELIMINATE UTOMIUM." The other robot said.

"NO! YOU LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Bubbles screamed. She let out an ear piercing sonic scream right against the robot holding her captive, causing some of its circuitry to come loose and let go of her.

"MALFUNCTION. MALFUCNTION." The robot said, while holding the sides of its head.

"MALFUNCTION THIS!" Bubbles gave a fury of punches and kicks to the robot that was holding her hostage. Oil, circuitry and screws flew everywhere. She started tearing robotic limb from limb, until finally, there was only the head and torso left.

"MALFUNCTION. MALFUNCTION. CRITICAL ERROR." The robot said.

Bubbles showed no remorse, and punched the robot's head straight off it's body. The robot's body fell to the ground with a giant *THUD.* Sparks of electricity and smoke rising from the scattered pieces of machinery.

As Bubbles eyed upon her handiwork for a brief second, she heard a scream of terror come from the downstairs laboratory.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The Professor shrieked.

"PROFESSOR, I'M COMING!"

Bubbles busted through the laboratory door and flew down the stairs in an instant.

"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" She hollered.

The robot was holding the Professor up in the air by his lab coat, and upon Bubbles entering the lab, pushed him in front of itself, holding the Professor in a choke hold like state.

"DO NOT TAKE ANY AGGRESSIVE ACTIONS TO INTERCEPT." The robot said to Bubbles.

"Bubbles, sweetie, don't worry about me. Save yourself!" Professor said in a raspy voice.

"SILENCE INSOLENT HUMAN." The robot said, tightening his grip on the Professor's neck. While doing so, the robot's free hand reached on a counter behind, grabbing something nearby.

Bubbles gritted her teeth. "THAT'S IT! RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Bubbles let out a battle cry of rage as she flew towards the robot at break neck speed.

*Time slows down at this point.*

Suddenly, the robot took the object it was holding onto and flung its contents towards Bubbles mid flight. It was a beaker containing a small amount of anti-dote X.

The chemical splashed all over Bubbles' face and body, temporarily blinding her. It didn't take long for the dosage of anti-dote X to kick in however, as Bubbles quickly felt herself getting weak. She slowly descended onto the floor, falling to her knees.

"My... powers..." Bubbles weakly spoke.

"No! *cough* Bubbles! Run for your li..."

*CRACK*

In an instant, the robot snapped Professor Utonium's neck like a twig.

"PROFESSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"

 _ **END OF CHAPTER 4**_

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE: Man... this took way too long. Honestly... I should have tried and released it sooner, but oh well. I've been pretty busy with school and work, so I've only had a little time to get some writing in here and there. Plus, I had a bunch of 'roadblocks' during the writing process, where I felt that certain sections felt sub par, or not satisfied. I'm going to try and release more chapters frequently though, and not go off on a long hiatus. Anyways...**

 **Some clarification**

 **\- I meant for this to be pretty short, mostly detailing Mojo's rise and the Professor's death, but I wanted to have the tension between Bubbles and Buttercup present still, in order to have them show hostility towards one another in the future. I tried not to keep it one sided, with Buttercup being obnoxious, and Bubbles being childish. I let them point out each of their individual flaws within one another during their fight. Obviously, I've touched a bit on Buttercup's irrational behavior, but haven't told all the details yet. Also, making Bubbles take charge was a great idea I wanted to implement. Basically, her branching out from her normal self and seeing her personality change.**

 **\- The whole part with Bubbles doing a daily routine thing before finding out about Buttercup and the robot attacks was one of those tropes when in a story, it starts out 'like a typical day' before everything turns for the worse.**

 **\- I thought this was the best time to finally introduce the robots and to show how exactly Mojo took over Townsville in 5 years. The robot's designs are based off a typical Sci-fi style human looking robot, similar to the Terminator robots or a 'militaristic humanoid robot' like I described. (Red eyes, human body exoskeleton, computer heads up display vision).**

 **\- The Professor forgetting to check on the girls was something I wasn't entirely sure how to convey. Since Buttercup left in the middle of the night, I had to come up with a reason how Bubbles and the Professor would react. Let's just say he had been busy downstairs in the middle of the night and had not come up to check on them. As early morning hit, he forgot to do the groceries, and rushed out the door to do them, leaving only a note on the fridge. (He's not in a proper state of mind, okay. : P)**

 **\- Mojo's destructo-bots are portrayed with basic abilities for now, but in the future... Oh man. Things will get crazy.**

 **\- I liked having Bubbles starting to figure things out and put the pieces together of the robot attacks. (Character dev once again, lol.)**

 **\- The riddle I had Mojo say was kinda cheesy, honestly, but I wanted him to taunt her more, as he knows exactly what happened to her sisters, but he won't actually tell. As well as to give her a bit of insight.**

 **\- The final showdown with the other robot holding Professor had to be concise and to the point, so I just had Bubbles rush in recklessly out of pure rage, only to be hit with a bile of anti-dote X, allowing the robot to quickly dispatch Professor.**

 **Trivia**

 **\- When Bubbles is temporarily held captive by one of the robots, I kind of re-created the dialogue from the episode "Bubblevicious."**

 **Bubblevicious: "THAT'S THE DUMBEST PLAN I'VE EVER HEARD! AND I'M NOT A BABY!"**

 **"I'M NOT GONNA CRY, YOU... DUMB-DOO-DOO BRAIN!"**

 **SAINW (4): "THAT'S THE STUPIDEST RIDDLE I'VE EVER HEARD! AND I'LL NEVER TELL YOU WHERE HE IS, YOU DUMB-NINCOMPOOP, MONKEY BUTT DOO-DOOBRAIN!"**

 **As always, thank-you for reading! I look forward to posting more chapters soon enough. I think when doing the 'present day' parts (basically the actual story) I get more creative in that aspect and have a lot of cool ideas I want to work with. I still like giving detailed backstories though, in order for the reader to make sense of it all and to fully flesh out each character.**

 **Reviews, follows, and favorites are appreciated!**

 **Thanks...**

 **-GoldMatt 007, Matthew**


	5. An Old Friend

**_Same As It Never Was_**

 ** _Chapter 5_**

 ** _An Old Friend_**

"The entire lab was destroyed by the robot, nothing remained. None of the Professor's experiments, blueprints, equipment... not even a drop of chemical X. Eventually, I found out that Mojo had been using a time machine to do his bidding. I never knew what the hell he meant back then, when he told me that friggin' riddle about you and Buttercup… but now I think I understand. 'Hanging around' and 'out of this time.' Heh. Buttercup was with him the whole time and you were off drifting in a time loop. I'd never figure when you'd show up, or even if... you'd ever show up, but... here you are now."

"H-How did you escape from the robot without your powers?" Blossom asked Bubbles curiously.

"I… I just ran. I ran so far away… away from this place. I honestly don't even know how I managed to survive for this long."

"Oh *sniff* Bubbles… I'm so sorry *sniff* I doubted you!" Blossom wept.

Bubbles felt instant sympathy for Blossom, and hugged her as she cried. Bubbles felt as if she wanted to cry too, but for her, shedding tears to express her emotions almost felt like something she had forgotten how to do. She maintained her fortitude, and did not shed a single tear. Instead, Bubbles stood there embracing Blossom as she hugged her back. She rubbed the back of Blossom's head softly as she spoke to try and calm her down.

"It's alright." Bubbles said. "Shhh, easy now, it's not your fault. He still loves us, no matter what." After the moment between the two, Blossom stepped back to regain her composure, wiping the tears from her eyes as she blinked. Bubbles stood next to her with a blank expression on her face; hands in her pockets, staring off in the distance. The wind began to pick up and flutter her black overcoat and pigtails in the breeze, while Blossom's hair and bow also fluttered.

"I can't believe this is real." Blossom spoke. "This isn't a future, it's like a…"

"Nightmare, right? Yeah, afraid so." Bubbles talked over. "The only way we can put an end to this hellish torment, is to dethrone that king of evil."

Blossom kept staring at the ground, with tears still streaming down her cheeks. "Bubbles… I don't know what to do. I've never dealt with anything like this before… I'm scared." Blossom whimpered.

Bubbles turned towards her sister and put a hand on her shoulder. "Listen sis, now that you're here and you still have your powers, we can actually put a stop this. We can end this reign of terror and fear that has been looming over Townsville for half a decade." Bubbles smiled.

Blossom looked up at her sister and her sadness changed to determination. "Y-you're right Bubbles. MOJO IS GOING TO PAY FOR WHAT HE DID!" Blossom shouted angrily.

"Damn right he is; I can't wait till I get my hands on that ugly son of a bitch." Bubbles said smugly. Blossom didn't know why, but she chuckled a little at Bubbles' profanity. For once it didn't seem to bother that much in that moment. The two of them walked back together to the house. Blossom could have easily floated behind, but she decided to stay on ground level with her sister. Blossom shut the sliding glass door behind them. As they re-entered the kitchen, Blossom heard a familiar sound, although a bit distorted, she knew exactly what it was.

"The hotline still works?" She asked Bubbles.

"Yeah, remarkable, isn't it? I modified it as a second base communication setup." Bubbles said, as she went to the living room to answer the phone. The Powerpuff hotline was still intact after all this time. Although, a few scratch marks were on the sides and the clown face lost a bit of its color, it still made that classic high pitched beep as it rang.

Bubbles picked up the phone. "Hello?" She answered. "Oh hey, how's it going?" Blossom floated inside behind her, listening to Bubbles' conversation on the phone. As she listened, a puzzled look came across her face.

"Uh-huh, yeah... alright, got it. Hey, um, I got someone here who wants to talk to you... Just an old friend, see if you can remember her." Bubbles said to the person over to the phone.

She then held the phone out to give to Blossom. "It's for you." Bubbles said.

Blossom raised a brow at Bubbles, looking unsure at first, but Bubbles encouraged her, nodding to her to answer it. Blossom picked up the phone and spoke. "Hello?"

"Oh my God... Blossom? Honey? Is that... is that you?"

"Ms. Bellum?" Blossom answered back. "Yes, yes, it's me!"

"Oh sweetie, it has been far too long. I can't believe it! *Sniff* It's so good to hear your voice!" Ms. Bellum said, cheerfully. "Are you alright? Where have you been all this time?"

"I'm okay. All I know is, I woke up in an alleyway in downtown Townsville. Mojo Jojo used a time machine device to send me to the future apparently. The Ganggreen Gang were also involved, and helping him as well... Ms. Bellum, what happened to you?" Blossom asked curiously.

"Well... it's kinda complicated. See... I'm working as Mojo's secretary of command, but I am not at all trying to help the bast... I mean..." Ms. Bellum's tone shifted to a whisper. "I'm acting as a double agent basically." She said.

"Oh, thank goodness! What about the Mayor?" Blossom asked again

Ms. Bellum didn't speak right away after Blossom asked her the question this time. "The Mayor... the Mayor is gone, sweetie."

Blossom gasped, struck with despair from Ms. Bellum's answer. "Oh God... poor Mayor."

"I know... *Sigh* I don't know if Bubbles told you already, but five years ago, a week or two after you went missing, Mojo took over the entire city with his robot army. He wiped out half of the entire population of Townsville in the process. The Mayor was already in a bad state of health, but was on his way to a good recovery, until Mojo's robots showed up. Mojo Jojo eventually captured us and forced me to become his secretary. He said he would keep the Mayor alive as long as I worked for him... but... he lied, *whimper* like a coward." Ms. Bellum said, angrily.

Blossom felt silent for a few moments. "I'm... I'm so sorry." She finally said.

"It's... It's alright honey, I'm just glad to hear from you again. I want you to know that... we never gave up looking for you... neither did he. When he was in the hospital, he made sure to get the best people on the job to help find you. He never gave up hope."

Blossom felt some joy from her statement. Her expression was happy, yet heartfelt, as a single teardrop ran down her cheek. "Thank-you Ms. Bellum... so very much."

"Anything for you Blossom. You and your sisters' service to the city will never be forgotten. Even if... one of your sisters is now working against us."

"Yeah, what about Buttercup?" Blossom asked. "Do you know why she is working with Mojo?"

"Unfortunately, no. I rarely ever get a chance to see her, and even when I do, Mojo keeps her close to his robot guards. The poor thing... Mojo completely ruined her. To have robotic body parts in place of her normal ones... the things he must have done... I'm sorry... I won't go on."

Blossom had covered her mouth with one hand as she listened to what Ms. Bellum said about Buttercup. "Ms. Bellum, we have to stop him. No matter the cost. WE HAVE TO!" Blossom shouted.

"We will sweetie... we definitely will."

*Some background chatter noise is then heard over the phone.*

"Blossom, I have to go. I'll be in touch with you two again soon. Tell Bubbles I said bye as well."

"Wait! Ms. Bellum! I..." The phone call immediately ended, with the dial tone blaring out loud, leaving Blossom with a worried expression.

"Don't worry, she'll be fine." Bubbles patted Blossom on the back. "She's gotta keep up her 'act' anyway."

"Ms. Bellum told me that... The Mayor... kept up a search party for me the entire time. Is that true?" Blossom asked Bubbles.

Bubbles nodded. "That old goofball. He was still recovering in hospital, but he definitely tried to help. He called up special units to help try and track you down. Get the city on a wide alert. He may have had a few screws loose in that head of his, but he had a pure heart, with good intentions. Ms. Keane even helped us put up signs around the city... God rest her soul."

Blossom took comfort in that. Knowing that her friends and family kept searching for her this entire time. But still also felt heartbroken, that the majority of them perished from Mojo's relentless attacks.

"So, Bubbles… where do you live now?"

"Thought you'd never ask." Bubbles grinned. "It's not too far from here. Just on the outskirts of Townsville."

"I can fly us there, if you'd like!" Blossom told her. "Just give me the directions in the air."

"Really? Oh man… I haven't flown in years… Uh, alright, but you'd better be careful, and fly at a steady pace."

"Don't worry, you'll be fine." Blossom reassured her.

The two of them walked outside the front door and Bubbles closed it behind her. Blossom floated behind Bubbles and grabbed hold of her arms.

"You ready for this?" Blossom said with a smug grin.

"Blossom… you better not take it fa…"

"CAUSE, HERE, WE, GOOOOOOOOOO!" Blossom shouted, as she took off to the sky with incredible speed.

"BLOOOOSSSSSSSSSOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!"

* * *

As Blossom switched her speed to a steady pace, she struck up a conversation with Bubbles in the air.

"So, how's does it feel to fly again?" She asked her. Blossom was holding onto Bubbles' torso underneath her as she flew.

"It's nice… good thing I'm not afraid of heights, or I'd probably have shit my pants by now." Bubbles joked.

"This would be the part where you're supposed to spread your arms out and say to infinity and beyond!" Blossom joked back.

"Hilarious." Bubbles said sarcastically. That movie is a classic, I'll give you that."

Blossom looked around the environment, still noticing the scenery of chaos and destruction Mojo caused to the city. "Look at this place… Mojo destroyed this beautiful city with a couple of robots… Unbelievable."

"Oh, believe it alright. Those damn robots are really good at their job. Also, it isn't just a couple of them. It's an entire friggin' army we are dealing with here."

"How do you fight them then? With guns and weapons?"

"Well, how else are we supposed to fight em? Use our fists? Pfft. You probably could, but don't expect me to punch a robot anytime in battle."

"Hehe, sure... So, uh, you and Ms. Bellum were working together this whole time to stop Mojo? How did you find her during the attacks?" Blossom asked.

"I didn't." Bubbles replied.

"Huh? What do you mean you didn't?" Blossom said, confused.

"I haven't seen Ms. Bellum in years Blossom. I've only heard her voice over the phone or radio. She's basically locked up in Mojo's volcano tower 24/7, being constantly monitored. The things she does, the risks she takes to give us intel on weapons, enemies, and locations… are invaluable."

"But… if you're not working directly with Ms. Bellum, who are you working with then?"

"You'll see when we get there. They're the leader of the resistance army."

Blossom gave her the squint eye look again, but didn't bother to say anything else. She trusted Bubbles, and was hoping that whoever she was working with, would help lead them to victory over Mojo. "Alright, make a left around this corner, and we'll arrive shortly." Bubbles told her.

Blossom made a sharp left turn around a row of buildings to find themselves near a small apartment block. "Right down there. Land us on the steps." Bubbles said.

She descended onto the staircase and put Bubbles on her feet. As Blossom looked around her surroundings, she noticed she had never been in this part of Townsville before. The apartment buildings surrounding them had a shady, run down, and poorly maintained look to them. The one Blossom and Bubbles were standing at was a smaller one, part of a complex.

 _Did Mojo's robots wreck this place up, or was it always like this?_ She thought. _I shouldn't say anything to Bubbles about it. Don't want to be impolite._

Bubbles walked towards the doorstep and pressed the button on the side of the wall for the intercom. "YO GREEN GOBLIN! OPEN UP!" She shouted.

"Green Goblin?" Blossom repeated.

Bubbles turned her head towards Blossom. "It's just a stupid code name thing." She said. "For confidential purposes."

"That you, Blue Bomber?" a voice spoke from the intercom.

"Who else, would it be, ya moron!" Bubbles said back.

"Yeah, yeah, get your ass inside then." the voice said.

*BUZZ*

"Well... they seem nice." Blossom said sarcastically.

Bubbles opened the door to the entrance and turned her head behind towards Blossom. "After you." She said.

Blossom floated inside, while Bubbles stayed at the door for a second, shifting her head left and then right to see if anyone, or anything, was watching them, before closing the door and following Blossom behind. The lobby entrance to the apartment looked completely deserted, with not a single soul in sight. Drywall was ripped apart and stains covered the look of the walls. A wooden chair was left in a corner with a broken leg and handle.

"Look, I know what you're thinking, and yeah, it ain't no fancy five-star hotel, but... it's home to me now." Bubbles said. "This is only the main lobby anyway; the room is up on the seventh floor. Got no elevator access, so we have to take the stairs."

"Seven flights of stairs?" Blossom complained. "Ugh, no thanks, I'll just..."

"Yeah, you'll just..." Bubbles sharply interrupted.

Blossom paused for a second, softening her tone. "I was about to say that I can float us both up." Blossom continued.

"It's okay Blossom, I don't need you to always have to transport me." Bubbles argued. "I have functioning legs and feet for a reason. I'll just walk up myself... meet you on the seventh floor." Bubbles said, as she started walking towards the staircase.

"Bubbles, I didn't mean to..."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, it's fine." Bubbles waved her off and continued walking up the stairs.

Blossom stopped talking once again and sighed. She followed Bubbles behind on foot, slowly beginning to walk up the seven grueling flights of stairs with her along the way.

* * *

"How much further?" Blossom asked, on the fourth flight of stairs.

"Almost there." Bubbles said. "You can go ahead and float, if you want to."

"I'm... Okay..." Blossom responded.

* * *

Once they made it to the top, Blossom bent over, holding her knees, and was repeatedly huffing and puffing, intensely out of breath. On the other hand, Bubbles seemed completely fine, just stretching and flexing her leg muscles.

"Wow... *huff* Bubbles... *huff* you didn't even... *huff* break a sweat." Blossom said, trying to catch her breath.

"That's pretty much normal for me everyday." Bubbles replied. "Not bad at keeping up." Bubbles smiled.

"Heh... *huff* thanks... *huff.*" Blossom smiled back.

"So, the room is right at the end of the hallway." Bubbles told her. "Room 718."

"At the end?" Blossom complained again.

"If you wanna float, go right ahead, I'm not stopping you." Bubbles started walking again.

"NO! I can walk it... I'm fine." Blossom said, rubbing her legs.

Bubbles shrugged her shoulders and continued down the hallway corridor, while Blossom slowly dragged herself along, arms hanging forward loosely, taking one step at a time.

 _Wow, Bubbles sure has a lot of stamina to do be able to do this all the time. This is like an endurance test for me!_ Blossom thought. _These powers... they are indeed a privilege I have._

They finally made it to the end of the hallway. Bubbles knocked on the door and a voice echoed on the other side. "It's open, come in!"

She opened the door and Blossom followed behind, shutting the door once again behind her.

"Well, here we here. Mi casa es su casa." Bubbles told her sister.

Blossom looked around the place; it was a small, two-bedroom apartment, with an open kitchen and living room. It looked decent, better than the initial lobby, but not by much.

There were some stains on the floorboard and ceiling, as well as some tears in the wallpaper. The carpet in the living room was mostly tidy, looking to have been vacuumed recently, with an exception for some books and magazines scattered on the ground. The dishes in the kitchen sink were all washed and dried in the dish rack.

"Hey, this is not bad, actually." Blossom commended. "That place that we had to stay at in Citiesville was miles worse."

"Well, it's the only place I got now. Our old house is too closely monitored by robot infantry, so there was no way we could stay there."

Blossom was joyful, knowing that in the situation she was in, she had a decent place to stay, until... she smelled something revolting that made her flinch. She immediately covered her nose up and under her breath shouted "UGH, WHAT'S THAT AWFUL SMELL?"

"That? Oh... well... that's just some cigs and alcohol. No big deal." Bubbles said calmly.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN NO BIG DEAL BUBBLES?!" Blossom roared in a nasally voice.

"I've had to deal with it for years now. I guess I'm just used to it."

"Bubbles... that is just downright..."

Before Blossom could finish, the both of them heard the sound of a machine. A loud grinding sound of an industrial tool that came from one of the rooms nearby.

"Who's that?" Blossom asked.

"That's who I was talking about. You'll probably remember him, when you see him." Bubbles assured her. "Yo Green Goblin, you gotta sec? Check what the cat dragged out of the bag."

The person in the room nearby stopped whatever they were doing and got up, footsteps nearing ever closer to Bubbles and Blossom. They made it to the door and slowly opened it up, revealing a familiar face to Blossom. Her eyes widened, and her expression was completely appalled beyond belief of who she saw.

"YOU!" Blossom shouted. "BUBBLES! I THOUGHT YOU SAID THEY WERE ALL DEAD!?"

"Not all of em." Bubbles said smugly.

"Well... well... well... it's been a long time since we last met. How are you doing... Blossom?" Ace asked her.

Ace was still sporting his trademark sunglasses, but his appearance took a drastic change. He now had a full beard growing out on his face, with longer hair grown out at the back. He also sported a black metal rocker tank top with a skull in the middle and the sleeves cut out, dark blue combat jeans, brown military combat boots, and a red bandanna wrapped around his forehead.

"BUBBLES, YOU'RE WORKING WITH HIM?" Blossom yelled at her. "HE'S THE ONE WHO CAUSED ALL OF THIS!"

"Blossom, if you could just let me explain myself..." Ace started.

"YOU CAN EXPLAIN AFTER I FINISH KNOCKING ALL YOUR TEETH OUT!" Blossom flew straight at him, punching him first in the stomach, then an uppercut to the chin, she then proceeded to pin him to the floor and began repeatedly punching him in the face.

"Blossom... Blossom stop it!" Bubbles called out. Blossom didn't listen to her, and just kept senselessly bashing her fist into Aces' cheekbones.

"Blossom! Listen to me! BLOSSOM! GODDAMNIT!"

*BANG!*

 ** _END OF CHAPTER 5_**

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE: Cliff-hanger! Haha. Sorry all, I had to end it at some point. Just when it starts to get juicy too. :P**

 **Some Clarification: So... maybe a lot of you were expecting this, maybe you weren't, but, yup, Ace was alive this whole time. Bubbles and him have been working with a resistance army against Mojo. I had actually planned this character arc, way ahead, before I even written the story. I thought... how could Bubbles become a badass in the apocalypse? She would need someone to mentor her, to teach her, and befriend her, in order to mold her into set badass. That's where Ace came in. He would be the one to do all that, while she had nobody else to rely on. Makes sense, right? Why her attitude now is completely different, her outlook on everything changed. Ms. Bellum I decided would be great to keep around, but not able to help directly. Instead, she would provide top secret information to Ace and Bubbles, acting as 'the person behind the scenes' or the 'eye in the sky.'**

 **\- The difference between having superpowers and not having them are going to be shown immensely throughout this story. Blossom will obviously be a saving grace for the resistance army. While Buttercup, as you may know, still has her powers, and is now also a cyborg! Bubbles and her still have a vendetta going on after all these years, and when they eventually meet again... oh man, just you wait.**

 **Trivia**

 **\- "I… I just ran. I ran so far away…" was a reference to the hit song from the 1980s "I Ran (So Far Away) by A Flock of Seagulls.**

 **\- Clear Toy Story reference in the middle when Blossom and Bubbles are flying over the Town.**

 **\- The code names "Green Goblin" and "Blue Bomber" came from the infamous Spider-man enemy with the same name, and Megaman respectively.**

 **\- Reference to the episode "Town and Out" when Blossom mentions the apartment from Citiesville.**

 **As always, thanks for reading! The next chapter will be another flashback, to Aces' point on the fateful day of the attacks, and how he united with Bubbles. I promise not every chapter is going to be a flashback for every one after the other like how it is so far. :P It's mostly to build backstory.**

 **Reviews, follows, and favorites are appreciated!**

 **Thanks...**

 **-GoldMatt 007, Matthew**


	6. The Strength To Carry On

**_Same As It Never Was_**

 ** _Warning: This chapter contains some intense course language and extreme graphic violence._**

 ** _Chapter 6_**

 ** _The Strength To Carry On_**

 ***Townsville – 5 years ago, 1 hour before the robot invasion.***

"On three. One… two…"

The Ganggreen Gang were in the junkyard, doing their usual destructive antics. Their leader, Ace, calling the shots on the numerous activities. They had positioned a line of small empty tin cans on top of a crate, stacked in a row of six by six, horizontally spread out next to one another for target practice. All five of them were lined up behind a small wooden table frame that was flipped on its side, crouching on one knee, slingshots loaded with stones at the ready. All they were waiting for…

...was the command.

"THREE, FIRE!" Ace shouted.

The five stones sailed through the air, landing in an arch as they dropped onto the cans like a barrage of missiles, or a firestorm of arrows. The stones made impact onto multiple targets, knocking them over and off the crate. A couple fell down simply from a domino effect, but one can in the middle seemed unfazed. It was the last one standing, nearly tipping over from another can hitting it, slowly shaking left and right in motion. The Ganggreen Gang watched from a distance, eagerly waiting to see if the can would lose balance and topple down. After a few moments of the can wobbling side to side, it found its balance and stayed upright.

"Awwwwwwwwwwww." The five of them said at once, disheartened.

"Ssso close!" Snake said.

"Yeah man, that's lame!" Lil' Arturo chimed in.

"Billy smash tiny can!" Big Billy roared angrily.

Grubber let out some displeased anger with his tongue saliva spraying everywhere.

Ace just seemed to shrug it off, and was busy trying to come up with something else to do for fun.

 _Alright, what's next?_ Ace thought. He scanned around the environment, looking through mountain heaps of junk and garbage. His eye finally caught what he was looking for: A dirty rusted out muscle car, with a busted right headlight, missing front hood, having the engine exposed, and rear left tire also gone, with the rim and hubcap exposed. _Bingo!_

"Alright everyone, let's say we take it up a notch. See That old rust bucket over there? It looks in need of some 'fixing up', eh?" He said malevolently.

As Ace explained the plan to them, the rest of gang nodded in unison, smiling wickedly, and understanding their duties. They then went off to retrieve what he needed.

"I'll get the toolsss needed." Snake chuckled, as he ran off.

"I'll get the supplies." Lil' Arturo ran said, and ran off as well.

"Alright good. Now Billy, I need you to move the car over here to this spot." Ace pointed.

"Yes sir!" Big Billy gave a salute, and diligently stomped over to get the car.

"And last, but not least, Grubber... go grab me a case of beer back at the club, and don't drink any on the way!" Ace said sternly.

Grubber made some spittle noises, obeying his leader's command. He ran into the clubhouse and grabbed a case of alcohol from their mini-fridge. Making his way back, he saw a streak of rocket flame fly by him at incredible speed in the sky. He watched and listened curiously, as the object left contrail clouds in the sky and heard the sound of a jet engine, almost like an aircraft had whizzed by. When he returned to Ace and the rest of the gang, he started rambling on, in an incoherent babble, jumping up and down, pointing towards the sky.

"What're you talking about man? I ain't seen or hear nothing." Ace said, dismissing his claim, when all of a sudden...

*BOOM!*

A soft muffled explosion rocked the air in the distance, with the gang staring half-hazardly into the direction it went off.

"Wha... what was that?" Big Billy asked confused.

"No idea." Snake responded.

Grubber started babbling on again, relating the sound to the object that flew by in the sky.

"Grubber, calm down man. You're overreacting. It's probably some demolition work on some building or one of those bank robbers blasting open one of those huge vault doors. We're gonna make a much bigger noise than that anyway, when we're done here."

The rest of the gang brought the items needed. Snake brought a wooden baseball bat, crowbar, sledgehammer, a fire axe, and a wrench. Little Arturo brought some cloth rags, a small gasoline canister filled with petrol, and a hand held lighter. Big Billy had finished hauling the car over and positioned it in an open spot where Ace wanted it. Finally, Grubber handed him the case of beer. He took a bottle out of the case and popped the cap off, sipping a refreshing taste of the alcoholic beverage.

"Ready fellas?" Ace smirked, picking up the crowbar in one hand.

The rest of the gang smiled along idly, picked up a beer, and a tool of destruction.

"Let's begin." Ace said.

All five of them walked over to the car.

* * *

An hour later, the car was destroyed almost beyond repair now. The windows and windshield were now just shattered glass bits onto the seats. All headlights now broken, filled of large cracks. Long scratch and dent marks on the sides of both doors, and all remaining tires punctured out. Lil' Arturo had just finished pouring a trail of gasoline around the car, and brought the gas canister back to Ace. The former alcoholic beverage filled bottle now held petrol in its place. Ace then stuffed a small cloth rag into the top of the bottle.

"Yo Snake, hand me the lighter."

Snake grabbed the handheld lighter by a nearby bench and tossed it to Ace. Ace tipped the lid off the top and ignited the gas flame. Holding the bottle next to the lighter, he set the cloth sticking out ablaze. "Home made molotov cocktail." He said proudly, watching the rag light up.

"Alright, I'm not sure how long it will take, but this piece of crap is definitely going to blow up, after a couple of hits with these things. I'll pass the lighter around afterwards so you guys can light your own."

Ace held his arm back, ready to toss the flaming projectile weapon at the vehicle that was barely still standing.

"FIRE IN THE HOLE!" Ace shouted and threw the molotov over a great distance. It sailed through the air, the bottle spinning in a spiral like motion. Then just as it was about to land and make contact with the vehicle... something else hit it in mid-air.

*BLAM!*

The molotov exploded on impact with whatever had collided with it, and instantly made shards of inferno rain down from above onto the ground below. The gang scattered back away from the fire raining down upon them, all except for Ace.

"What the hell?" Ace called out, as small flames ignited around him. "HEY, WHO RUINED MY DAMN COCKTAIL?!"

He turned to face his friends. "DID YOU GUYS SEE WHAT JUST HAPPENED? I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS CRAP!"

As Ace started to ramble on, a bright fiery projectile suddenly came down from the air at incredible speed. It was a missile headed straight towards the car, where Ace was standing directly in front of.

"ACE, LOOK OUT!" Billy, Arturo, Snake and Grubber all shouted in unison.

"Wha?" Ace said, turning his head ever so slightly.

*KABOOM!*

* * *

"Ugh, ahhh... shit..."

Ace woke up from his unconscious state. His vision blurry and disoriented, body feeling completely off-balance, and head pounding like an intense drum bass. The shock wave blast from the exploding vehicle nearly could have easily killed him, but luckily, he survived. He struggled for a moment to get back up on his feet, clutching his left arm, he felt a burning, searing pain run through it.

"Ahh, son of a bitch! That hurts like hell. Ahh... God."

Wiping the blood from his mouth, he looked back at the car behind him. Ace saw the mighty flames blaze, surrounding the now charcoal muscle car. The intensity of the smoke rising caused him to cough up a bit.

*Cough Cough.* "Man... I almost could've *cough cough* died from that." *Cough.*

After finding his sunglasses on the ground nearby and wiping the dirt off them, Ace slowly paced forward into the middle of the junkyard, in search for his friends. He kept an eye out on every corner.

"Guys? Hello? Where the hell is everyone?"

Pacing forward he kept calling out to his seemingly missing friends.

"C'mon guys, is this some kind of joke? I'm not dead ya know!"

His eyes finally caught a sight of something at the side of the junkyard, behind a heap of trash. A large green mass of flesh and skin with its stubby little legs and feet were sticking out of the corner.

"Billy! There you are! What are you doing just laying down on the ground like that? You and the rest of those good for nothing punks didn't even bother to come over and check on me." Ace scolded.

Billy didn't answer him.

Ace raised a brow, showing a little concern for Billy not responding.

"Uh, Billy? Hello? What are you doing, sleepin?"

Ace neared closer to Billy, but was feeling more and more petrified along the way.

"Billy, come on man, this ain't funny anymore."

Ace finally reached up to the spot Billy was at, and turned the corner. What he saw, absolutely mortified him.

"Arturo? Billy? Grubber? Snake?! Oh... GOD."

The bodies of Big Billy, Snake, Grubber, and Lil Arturo laid waste on the ground. Piled close next to each other, filled with bullet holes and pools of blood. Ace couldn't even process what he was seeing. The sight of their corpses completely sickened him. Right then and there, he wanted to run around like a mad man, screaming in fear and panic, but he hesitated. His heart started to beat rapidly, faster and faster. His whole body started trembling like it was in shock. His stomach felt uneasy and twisted in knots. He made a run for the main gate leading out of the junkyard.

 _THEY'RE DEAD. THEY'RE ALL FUCKING DEAD. FUCK, THIS SERIOUSLY CAN'T BE HAPPENING!_

Right across the road, opposite of the junkyard, onto the city streets, he stopped at a light pole near an alleyway to catch his breath.

"Oh God... I c-can't."

*HURL.*

Ace began to projectile vomit all over the sidewalk. His entire insides were heating up like an oven. Some people passing by just stared at him in a look of complete utter disgust on their faces.

"Aw... fuck."

Ace had to take a few moments to regain himself. This was way too much for him to handle all at once. Holding a hand over his stomach, he eventually got up and began to stagger into a nearby alleyway. His face was pale, his body ached of various pains, and his mental state was completely unstable. Bracing against a brick wall, he slumped down on the ground, tears seeping through his sunglasses.

"My best friends... they're... g-gone." Ace said softly.

He sat there for a few moments... silent, gazing up into the sky, pondering what honestly could have taken the lives of his friends. After some time, Ace finally got back up on his feet, and headed out of the alleyway.

Beyond the alleyway on the other side, was a small parking lot right. Between the sight lines of the narrow passage, a cop cruiser with two officers, presumably on their break, were eating doughnuts, parked in the middle of the lot, getting a clear view of the alleyway.

"Hey Patterson, pass me a sprinkle one, will ya?" One of the officers said.

"C'mon Jacobs, that's like your fourth one. You're gonna be putting on some serious weight after this." The other officer replied.

"No way man. I'll get the calories down with all the running I'll be doing in pursuit of some of these dirt bag asswipes."

The other officer chuckled out loud while passing him his requested doughnut. "That so?"

A few seconds later, Ace had emerged from the alleyway. Stumbling out slowly into the daylight, he covered a hand forehead from the blinding sunlight. He then immediately directed his eyes to the cop car parked just a short distance from him. His eyes widened, as he instantly started to shout and wave his arms to get their attention.

"HEY! HEY OVER HERE! I NEED HELP! MY FRIENDS WERE SHOT!" Ace called out.

The officer looked puzzled for a second, tugging on his partner's arm and pointing at Ace before asking "Hey Jacobs, doesn't that guy look familiar?"

The other officer turned his head towards Ace's direction. "Yeah, I remember dispatch describing someone like him. Adult male, late teens, wears sunglasses, slick hair, green skin."

"HEY! DID YOU HEAR ME? I SAID I NEED HELP!" Ace called again.

The officers glanced at each other for a second, then back at Ace. They both stepped out of their cruiser, sternly looking onward at Ace through their aviator sunglasses. One of the officers wielded a twelve-gauge pump-action shotgun in their hands, while the other officer was armed with his semi-automatic nine-millimeter pistol. "Put your hands up and face the wall, boy."

"The hell?" Ace muttered. "Hey, listen, this ain't about me! Something attacked me and my fr..."

"HE SAID PUT YOUR HANDS UP, AND FACE THE WALL!" The officer shouted, drawing his shotgun at Ace.

Ace immediately rose his hands up defensively, and faced the wall behind him, obeying the officer's demands.

"That's right boyo, don't you move a muscle." The officer with the pistol drawn at him said, as he walked over cautiously to Ace. Once he reached his position, he gave a quick pat-down on Ace for a quick weapon search.

"Officer, please, you gotta listen to me!" Ace begged.

"Tell it to the judge!" The officer replied, taking out his hand cuffs and pulling Aces' left arm down behind his back. As the cuff was about to make contact on Aces' left hand, the officer behind them burst out shouting "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?" Ace and the arresting officer turned their heads behind to see something floating above them. A robot, but not just any robot they would soon find out.

"EXTERMINATE." The robot said, morphing one of its arms into a deadly laser cannon.

Before the cop could act, the shotgun was immediately zapped out of his hands, onto the ground. The robot proceeded to grab the cop by his collar with its mechanical hand, now morphing into a razor-sharp saw blade.

"SHOOT IT!" The cop hollered. "SHOOT IT NOW!"

The other officer left Ace and ran forward towards the robot holding the helpless officer. Ace took this opportunity to run back into the alleyway and stay hidden behind a dumpster.

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

Ace heard three shots fire off into the distance. He started trembling and sweating immensely, but kept quiet and put his hands over his ears as he heard more shots.

*BANG!* *BANG!*

Two more shots rang out, piercing the air. Ace still cowered behind the dumpster, not moving a muscle.

"JACOBS HELP! HELP M-"

*SHLINK.*

*Gurgle.*

"PATTERSON! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR THAT, YOU GODDAMN SON OF A-"

*BZZZZZZZTTTTTTT*

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Screams of agony filled the air, as the officer attempting to combat the robot is killed.

Ace peaked his head over the dumpster for just a quick second to see what was going on, but immediately ducked back down upon seeing the body of the officer fly into the dumpster right next to him. The officer's body hitting the inside of the dumpster with such a force on impact, causing the top to shut down on him.

 _OH FUCK! THEY'RE DEAD TOO! FUCK, THIS IS INSANE._

He couldn't believe what he had just witnessed. The two officers were slain in a violent and disturbing manner. Ace peaked back over the dumpster to see what exactly had just taken the lives of the innocent policemen.

It was the robot. Floating in the air, still holding the corpse of the first officer killed. Blood pouring out of his slit throat onto the pavement beneath them. The robot then tossed him like a rag doll.

"What the fuck?! Is that what I think it is?" Ace whispered to himself, still peaking over the dumpster. He tried to move up a little bit to get a better look, but there were some trash cans in the way. He accidentally knocked one of them over.

 _OH SHIT!_

The robot then turned towards Ace's direction. Ace had ducked back down as fast as possible, knowing that the robot heard the noise. The robot started hovering over to the knocked over trash can to investigate, while Ace kept back behind the dumpster again. If he had taken off on foot already, he would've been killed on the spot, no doubt. His face was drenched in sweat and his heart was beating out of his chest at this moment in time. The robot's presence alone made him extremely anxious, and now it was going to find him. As the robot approached the area, landing on the ground, standing a near foot close to Ace, something unexpected happened. A familiar voice came over an intercom in the robot.

"DESTRUCTO-BOT SERIAL NUMBER 675 DASH 8324, YOU ARE NEEDED AT THESE COORDINATES IMMEDIATELY!" The voice commanded.

The robot stood still for a moment, then complied to its overseer. "UNDERSTOOD. SETTING COORDINATES."

It floated back out of the alleyway to the parking lot, and jetted off into the sky. Ace made sure it was out of sight before setting foot back out of the alleyway. He briefly saw the corpse of the officer the robot tossed on top of the cop cruiser, quickly looking away, trying not to gag again.

"That voice on the speaker... was Mojo!" Ace finally realized what was going on. He and his friends had just been pawns in Mojo's scheme this entire time. "That dirty, rotten, shit-flinging little bastard! After all what we did for him, he just wanted to betray us all along. I never should have trusted him!"

Ace glanced at the ground for a brief second and noticed the officer's shotgun nearby. He went over and picked it up. It was a twelve-gauge pump action, with a long-refined barrel at the front, an ammo receiver mounted on the side and a folding stock at the back for added stability.

"Good thing my old man was ex-military." He said while inspecting the ammo supply and aiming the gun. "Alright Mojo, you thought you could get away with blackmail at first, BUT THEN YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD GET AWAY WITH KILLING MY FRIENDS, LET ALONE TRY AND KILL ME!" Ace shouted while loading the shotgun. "Bring it on, you son of a bitch."

* * *

Ace ran as fast as he could. Not stopping for a second, he made it into the heart of downtown Townsville, where soon, more of the flying robotic menaces would be taking the lives of more innocent people.

 _What the hell do I do! WHAT THE HELL DO I DO!_

Ace stopped on the spot, watching people running and screaming frantically for their lives from the deadly robot onslaught. He had already passed by dozens of people on the ground bleeding out from internal injuries. Some were already dead, and he knew it. Nobody could stop the carnage, it seemed. It was all like a blur to him in that moment of complete chaos and destruction. Until...

"Oh my God! Jeff! JEFF!" The news reporter hollered. "Oh God… NOT JEFF! NO… NO PLEASE!"

Ace looked to his left to see a blonde woman crying out loud in the middle of the street, bent over holding the lifeless corpse of a brown-haired man. She briefly stopped crying and looked over and saw a camera laying on the sidewalk and ran over to it. As she picked it up, she pointed it directly to her face and shouted into it "POWERPUFF GIRLS! WHEREVER YOU ARE… PLEASE SAVE U…"

*KABOOM!*

"JESUS!" Ace shouted, as he raised his arms to shield his face from the bright flash of the explosion. The woman was gone. All that remained was a giant crater hole in the ground.

"The Powerpuffs! They can stop this! Oh man, I… I need their help."

Ace took off again, avoiding the robots all the way from the main city into the suburbs. He knew where they lived because Big Billy had stayed with them before and he found out directions.

Ace finally arrived at the house, right outside the front door. As he was about to reach for the door knob, he started to hesitate. Sweat dripped down from his forehead as he nervously thought They're _gonna kill me if they find out, aren't they? Man, I... I can't do this._

His hand slowly started retracting back from the door, until...

"AAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

He heard a loud scream from inside the house. He knew that whoever it was, they were in serious trouble, and in desperate need of help. He sucked in his guts and kicked open the door to see an approaching robot about to attack Bubbles.

"GET DOWN!" Ace shouted at the top of his lungs, pumping the shotgun in hand. Bubbles immediately ducked into cover, holding her head fearfully, as the robot turned towards Ace. Aiming the weapon straight at it, Ace squinted an eye through his sunglasses, and slowly squeezed the trigger.

*BANG!*

The pellets flew out through the main barrel, into the torso of the robot, leaving several bullet holes, the force causing it to stagger backwards away from Bubbles.

*CHK-CHK.* *BANG!*

Another blast hit the robot, in its chest this time, stumbling off its feet onto the floor. Sparks of electricity started to fly up in the air from the internal wounds inside, the robot's body shaking violently.

"MALFUNCTION. MALFUNCTION." The robot spoke.

Ace walked up slowly to the robot's decaying shell, reloading his shells along the way.

*CHK-CHK.*

Ace pointed the barrel of the gun right in the middle of the robot's forehead.

"This one is for my friends, YOU NO GOOD PIECE OF SH-"

*BANG!*

The robot's head instantly exploded into millions of tiny fragment pieces and the body had ceased to twitch.

Ace dropped his shotgun nearby and ran over to Bubbles who was curled up in a ball on the ground, bawling uncontrollably.

"Hey Bubbles… you okay?" He asked, gently.

Bubbles turned her head and looked up at him; her face in clear distress, with tears flowing down her cheeks. She didn't say a word, but just shook her head in denial.

"What happened?" Ace asked her.

Bubbles hesitated at first. She wearily sat up to face Ace, still sitting on the ground. "They k-k-ki…"

"They what?" Ace asked again, not understanding her properly. Bubbles closed her eyes and her mouth started to tremble. Her eyes clenched shut, then became crossed with anger, as she gritted her teeth, feeling the rage build up inside her again.

"THEY KILLED HIM! THEY KILLED THE PROFESSOR!" She yelled at the top of her lungs.

Bubbles put her hands over her eyes and began to weep loudly once again. Ace's mouth was left wide open from what she just told him. He felt heartbroken to see the little girl cry like that. He bent down next to her, and put a hand on her shoulder while she cried. "Bubbles… I'm… I'm so sorry."

Bubbles shoved his hand off her shoulder and continued crying. Ace backed off and just stood there silently for a few moments, turning his head and staring towards the city in the distance. After a little while, he turned back and asked her "So… are you going to go after Mojo now?" As Ace turned, he saw Bubbles on the ground, stretching her arm out, reaching for his shotgun he had dropped.

"Bubbles, what are you doing?!" Ace shouted, as he grabbed the weapon before she could reach it.

"Just… just give the gun Ace… please." Bubbles demanded, with severe desperation in her voice.

"What? Why?" Ace asked, confused. Bubbles didn't say anything. Her mouth trembled and her eyes dripped with more tears. She didn't even need to say anything… Ace had already known why she wanted the gun.

"What are you, crazy?!" Ace called out. "You… you can't give up just like that!"

"What's the point, Ace? Both of my sisters are missing without a trace, my home is destroyed, I lost my powers, and I just saw my own Father die in front of my own eyes… MY LIFE IS COMPLETELY WORTHLESS NOW!" Bubbles shouted at him.

"You… lost your powers?" Ace said, in disbelief by her statement.

Ace looked at her grimly while she wept. He was depending on one of the Powerpuff Girls to take down Mojo and his robots for revenge, but instead realized that she needed help more than he did.

"That's not true." Ace said, as he reached his hand out towards her.

Bubbles looked up at him with a confused look on her face. Not believing that one of her own enemies, that she fought constantly, time and time again, almost on a normal everyday basis, was being nice towards her. Bubbles took her hand out and was about to reach for his, but was hesitant, and stopped halfway before asking him "How can I trust you?"

"Listen… I know we've had our differences in the past, but we need to put all that behind us now, alright? Those damn robots… they killed my best friends. All of them are… Dead… And there wasn't a thing I could do to save them." Ace lowered his head for a few moments.

"Oh God… I'm sorry." Bubbles responded.

"I swear on their lives, MOJO IS GOING TO PAY!" Ace roared.

A moment of silence slipped between the two.

"I can't do it alone though..."

Ace bent down once again and reached out his hand towards her. Bubbles looked at his hand and reached towards it, grasping it tightly, and got up on her two feet. She looked up towards Ace. Her eyes filled to the brim with rears. She couldn't control herself, for her emotions overwhelmed her. She grabbed onto the back of Aces' jacket and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, giving him a tight comforting hug. Ace was stunned by this action, and did not know how to react right away. He quickly realized what to do though, and immediately hugged her back, giving her a warm reassuring hug as well. Bubbles still kept on crying, in the moment between the two, and even Ace, had a few tears escape his eyes.

"C'mon… let's give your old man a proper burial."

* * *

Thunder and lightning cracked the sky as Ace dug into the Earth with the shovel. Bubbles was sitting down, braced up against the sliding glass door to the backyard of the Utonium home. She had decided that the best place to bury Professor was next to a small tree they had planted together earlier in the year, and was just starting to grow. Bubbles had stopped crying at this point, but her eyes were fixated the entire time on the Professor's body… completely devoid of life. This was one of the first times she experienced something like this… and she didn't exactly know how to cope with the tragedy of death and loss. She knew the grief would stay with her over time, but her mind was a run of mixed emotions.

"Okay, uh… I guess that should do it." Ace finished digging the hole, setting the shovel aside as he wiped his brow. It was a pretty shallow grave, but it was all he could amount to with what he had to work with. He climbed out and went over to Professor Utonium's body. Picking up his legs and dragging him slowly towards the hole.

"Be careful." Bubbles spoke.

"I got him." Ace assured her, and kept dragging the body along the muddy ground, as slowly and carefully as he could be. He brought the body down into the hole, leaving it just sprawled out lazily, and was about to climb out when Bubbles asked him "Aren't you going to…"

Ace looked at her, then back at the Professor. "Oh… yeah… right." He went down to the body and started fixing his arms and legs in the proper resting positions.

 _Geez. Never would I have thought I'd be a grave digger and a mortician in my life, all at the same time._

Ace finished fixing his limbs to fit properly within the hole, and gently closed the Professor's eyelids. He climbed out of the hole, walked over and gripped his hands tightly onto to the top of the shovel sticking in the dirt. He looked down at Bubbles, who still kept staring at the Professor in the hole.

"Umm… you want to say any… last words?" He asked her. Bubbles looked up at him for a brief second. A scared, nervous look across her face.

"I, um… uh, I…" She stammered.

"Don't worry, just speak your mind." Ace said to her.

"Uh… okay." Bubbles said softly.

"Thank-you… Professor… *Sniff* for always being there for me, Buttercup, and Blossom. You brought us into this world… and you said we brought joy and happiness into your life… but so did you to ours. We couldn't have wished for a greater creator… Father… like you. Goodbye Dad, I'll miss you, never forget you, and love you forever."

Bubbles burst into tears and ran back crying to the house, with her hands covering her eyes. Ace stretched an arm outward, with his mouth opened halfway, about to tell her to wait… but instead just let her be. He glanced down at the Professor's body, and began his own eulogy.

"I'm not religious, but… wherever you are… I hope you're watching over her." Ace said. "Rest in peace, Mr. Utonium."

Ace then took the shovel, and began to fill in the grave.

Ace finished, putting the last pile of dirt on the grave, and headed back inside the house. Bubbles sat at the kitchen table, her face flat on the surface, weeping with the utmost despair. Ace sighed, walked over and sat next to her.

"It's alright. Shh, it's okay." Ace said, rubbing her back, trying to console her. "That was a… a good speech, you said."

Bubbles looked up at him, and even with her face displaying intense emotion, she managed to give a soft smile. "Th-thanks."

"So… what do we do now?"

Ace thought for a moment, scratching his chin. "Well… we can't stay here, that's for sure. Somehow, maybe we can get into contact with like… the army or something We oughta find a place to lay low, for a while, or longer… but I think I know just the place."

 ** _END OF CHAPTER 6_**

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hi everyone. I'm sorry for going on a long ass hiatus from time to time. I've been very busy over the summer, mostly with school courses and my job, but now, I should be okay for the time being. The backstory is complete! (Mostly for now. :P) My primary focus is now going to be on the current time period within the plot. I'm very excited to finally get into the main gist of it, trying to develop the characters more, enhance the plot, show off the villains, and writing the fight scenes. Since there is a 5-year time gap, there is still a lot of backstory that isn't covered, and I can't talk about every little specific detail. I'm basically covering the time from 5 years in the past, before Mojo completely took rule, to the present/future where Blossom ends up. So, maybe, in the future, I might write a prequel story, detailing the lives of Bubbles, Ace, and everyone else throughout the story during the 5-year time gap. Just a little thing on the side, I might work on later. :)**

 **Man, it really sucks with certain age ratings. I wasn't sure how violent or profane I was going to go with content wise, but now that I think about it, a mature rating allows me more creative freedom in certain scenes and dialogue, as well as darker subject matter. Directors and script writers have to deal with this a lot I'm sure when making movie, and unfortunately... a lot of content gets cut. Ultimately though, an age rating should never reflect the quality of the work overall. It might alienate a certain age audience, but it's what the creator's vision intended. I still want to overall keep it at a T level throughout the story, while also still keeping the darker subject matter with some light-hearted tones sprinkled throughout. Thing is, if I change the rating to an M, it won't even show up without changing the filters first on the PPG fanfic list, which sucks, because nobody really gets to see it. (Man, the irony is real). I've decided to keep it at T, but just give a small warning at the beginning of this chapter. Basically, my story will probably push the T rating to its limits in a way. I definitely don't want to sacrifice content for a better rating, but honestly, it should be fine. This is the internet after all.**

 **Some Clarification: So yeah, this chapter... was pretty damn dark (and I'll get to the part, don't worry). People die left and right, with Bubbles and Ace being two of some of the remaining survivors, choosing to trust one another, even though they were former sworn enemies. I liked the idea that I could basically connect chapter 4 with this part, basically expanding upon it originally, but from Aces' perspective.**

 **So, starting things out with the Ganggreen Gang, after successfully pulling off helping out Mojo recently, they have been mostly doing their usual thing... being a public nuisance to society. A little Mailbox baseball never hurt anybody. (Except property value). Hehe, but nonetheless, I tried to capture the typical teenage boy's love of mischief and mayhem with them in the beginning of the chapter. At first it starts subtle, with just using slingshots against tin cans, but of course I had to amp it up to destroying a car and making molotov cocktails to throw at it. Things quickly go wrong before they know it, and the rest of the Ganggreen Gang suffers a terrible fate. Ace starts to swear heavily in this chapter, and though he has never shown to be this profane before, I figured it wouldn't work right in the situation that he was in to just shrug it off without any profanity, as well as get him into a typical angsty teenage character.**

 **The whole scene with the cops was just my idea to introduce Ace to the robots. He obviously should have had a couple of run-ins with the law by this point, so some cops already know him by this point.**

 **I'm really keen on continuity, so just having the same blonde news reporter and poor old Jeff the camera man make cameos was something I wanted to used to keep the story connected.**

 **So... I know, I'm pretty messed up for doing this to poor Bubbles, but uh...**

 **Yes... she wanted to commit suicide.**

 **She lost everything that mattered to her the most in her life, including her superpowers. In that moment, she wanted the pain to end. She couldn't bare it any longer. Luckily... Ace was there to help her. I wanted them to establish a mutual friendship with one another. Bubbles not knowing whether to trust him at first because he was her sworn enemy, but in desperate times, she needed someone to rely on.**

 **The song: "Mazzy Star - Look On Down From The Bridge" is a particular song I listened to and thought it fit perfectly with the somber moment of putting the Professor to rest. I listen to all kinds of music on a regular basis to get inspired for certain scenes, but I don't think putting a direct reference of the song inside the fanfic would work. I may put lyric references later on throughout the story, just cause. ;)**

 **Not really any trivia on this chapter. Next time for sure, I'll have a bunch of references.**

 **I would like to say a big thank-you to everyone who has kept up and has read up to this point. You guys and gals are an awesome bunch. I apologize for taking such a long time from releasing these. I want to ensure I upload a proper chapter, with hopefully no spelling mistakes, grammar errors, or continuity issues. I also promise that I won't abandon the story and leave it unfinished. This idea for me is just too good to pass up. Anyways, thank-you all once again, and see you next chapter.**

 **\- GoldMatt 007, Matthew**


	7. Sympathy For The Devil

**_Same As It Never Was_**

 ** _Chapter 7_**

 ** _Sympathy For The Devil_**

The shot from the magnum pistol resonated through the air like a canon; smoke rising from the barrel, with a bullet hole punctured in the ceiling above. Bubbles kept the gun raised in her hand, pointed upwards, while Blossom had stopped punching Ace to look back at her sister. She stood there frozen, as a baffled expression came across her face, holding Ace up by his shirt with her left arm, and clenching a fist in the air with her right.

"Why can't you just listen to me for once?" Bubbles called out.

"YOU PULLED A GUN ON ME AGAIN?!" Blossom exclaimed, dropping Ace out of her grasp.

Bubbles blew the smoke away from the gun barrel and twirled the pistol in her hand before holstering it at her side. "I told you to stop, didn't I? Plus, I didn't point it towards you, I pointed it towards the ceiling. I had to get your attention somehow."

"Yeah, thanks a lot for putting a bullet hole in MY CEILING!" Ace shouted at her while rubbing his cheek.

"So, that's the thanks I get for stopping her from pulverizing your face? Asshole." Bubbles crossed her arms as she spoke.

"You could've just asked her nicely to..." Ace rebutted, while he got back on his feet. "You know what, never mind."

Blossom watched the both of them in a peculiar manner, slightly confused by the interactions and mannerisms between the two.

"Listen... I finished fixing up your sword for you while you were gone. It's looking good. I sharpened the blade and made it more durable now than ever before." Ace walked into the previous room and came back out with a weapon holster and katana that matched Bubbles' size and stature. A curved slender, single-edged blade with a circular guard and long grip to accommodate two hands. The handle was wrapped in blue leather material, with gold diamond studs covered from top to bottom.

"Ahh baby, come to mama!" Bubbles idly took both items from Ace. She brushed her hand gently against the razor's edge, feeling the true sharpness of the weapon.

"I ain't no master blacksmith, but you gotta admire the work I put in." Ace bragged. "I'll be right back, just give me a minute to clean up." Ace said, and walked back into the room.

"You... have a sword?!" Blossom said, astonished by the blade as it shimmered in the dim light.

"Yup. It's not a Hattori Hanzo make... and it didn't belong to a noble warrior from long ago in a distant land... but it's still a beauty, that gets the job done." Bubbles spoke proudly.

"Hey, uh, Bubbles, mind leaving us for a bit? I would like to have a private talk with Blossom one on one." Ace asked politely while Blossom raised a brow at him, feeling suspicious.

Bubbles sheathed her sword in its holster. And slung it around her back. "Okay, but if she starts to kick your ass, don't call to me for help. I'll be on the rooftop practicing." She walked out of the room, and out of the apartment, closing the door behind her.

 _Of all people, Ace had to be the one here in the future teamed up with my sister to help fight Mojo._ Blossom thought, disappointingly.

Ace walked over to the kitchen table and sat down. "Care to take a seat?" Ace asked kindly to her.

Blossom stood floating nearby and shook her head in angrily. "Cut to the chase, Ace! You know what you did to me all those… uh… years ago!"

"Alright, relax, don't worry. I'll give you the rundown. Just gimme a sec." Ace took out a cigarette from a packet and put it in his mouth. He then took out a lighter, flicked the cap off and repeatedly pressed down on the back to ignite the gas flame.

"Do you really have to smoke inside here?" Blossom said, angrily. "I don't know how Bubbles deals with it, but that's disgusting."

"Didn't your old man use to smoke a pipe?" Ace answered back with the cigarette in mouth, muffling his speech slightly. Finally, the gas flame ignited and Ace lit his cigarette, taking in a hit from it as the smoke whiffed through the air.

"Yeah, but he never did it around u..." Blossom stopped herself for a second realizing something. "Hey... how'd you know that?"

"Your sister... how else?" Ace said, as he exhaled out some smoke.

It immediately struck Blossom that Ace had probably knew many things about their family, their past, and their lives in general...

"What else do you know?" She narrowed her eyes towards Ace.

"Nothing you'd care about." Ace took another hit of the cigarette and blew a breath of smoke. "Okay, well, I know what you're thinking, and yeah, I feel really bad for what I did to ya. Believe me, I do."

"You… big jerk! Look what you caused! This is all your fault for helping out that even bigger jerk." Blossom retaliated.

"Jerk, heh, I haven't heard that insult in years... Listen, I never intended for any of this, alright. Out of all my regrets in life, that was my biggest one. What I did to you... and to your family, was inexcusable."

"What have you done to Bubbles?! Blossom complained. Clearly something you did to her caused her personality to change so drastically. She has a terrible attitude, a big potty mouth, and now she uses guns and swords! This obviously has your influence written all over her."

"It wasn't just what I did... it was what Mojo did..." Ace sat up firm.

He began explaining everything to her. That he was at fault for the Mayor's accident, about the tape Mojo had recorded of him, and that he had blackmailed him with it. Then he skipped to the day of the robot invasion and Mojo's takeover. The deaths of his fellow Gang Green comrades and other fallen victims, finishing up with the moment he met Bubbles at the Utonium house.

"I'll never forget that day..." Ace said, bowing his head slightly. "I still have flashbacks to moments of people being slaughtered... mercilessly. Bubbles was the one that honestly kept my spirits up that day, and... I guess I lifted hers as well."

Blossom's face went pale. Drenched in sweat and teary eyed once again. "Bubbles really was going to..." Blossom stopped herself from continuing, and closed her eyes tight, blinking rapidly and wiping the tears from them.

"I know... it wasn't easy for her adjusting without superpowers at first. I tried my best to help her along the way. Eventually, she got the hang of things. Rather quickly, might I add."

*Sniff.* "Well... uh... thank-you for... looking out for her." Blossom spoke sorrowfully.

"She's a tough one, that's for sure. But what you said about me changing her. That's not entirely true. She changed herself. Sure, she maybe might have had some influence off of me and my attitude, but this world we live in now, that's what truly changed her."

Blossom looked up at Ace with her a fiery look in her eyes, completely bold faced with absolute fearlessness. "We need to put an end to Mojo's tyranny... once and for all! Blossom exclaimed. If we can just shut-off that defense field surrounding Townsville, then we can get all the help we need!"

"It ain't that easy like you think." Ace explained. "Mojo had his entire observatory converted into a fortress completely secured with huge concrete walls, reinforced barb wired fences with electric shock, a bunch of high tech security systems; including cameras, laser tripwires, motion sensor alarms, a highly trained pit-bull compound, and not to mention, all the entry and exit points to his observatory and city completely surrounded. Even if we somehow manage to get inside, we still have to deal with all the robots before facing him. He himself definitely won't be putting up an easy fight with one of his own fancy high tech suits of armor.

"We have to try... I am not letting him get away with any of this. He's still got that time machine from what I heard. If we can just get to his observatory, I will force him to send me back to my time period to prevent all of this from happening. I'll tear all those robots to shreds just to get to him." Blossom growled.

"You've got guts kid. Like your sister, I guess it runs in the family." Ace laid back into the chair, holding his cigarette with two fingers as the smoke wisp trailed into the air. "I admire that."

"Well thanks, I guess. I'm going to talk to Bubbles now about the plan." Blossom said, floating toward the apartment door.

"Wait Blossom, one more thing before you go. I gotta ask you this..." Ace began as Blossom turned back around to listen to him. "Please, don't mention to Bubbles about what the gang and I did to you that day."

"Wait... YOU NEVER TOLD HER?! Blossom raised her tone.

"I COULDN'T BRING MYSELF TO, OKAY! I'M... I'm sorry." Ace quieted down. "I... I had to tell her a little white lie, since she questioned me once on my whereabouts of the days prior to the invasion day, as well as finding out about Mojo's time machine from Bellum, I had to keep her from getting suspicious. I told her that it was mainly Mojo's fault and that my friends helped him with his plan on the day you went missing, but that I wasn't there or involved whatsoever. She said she forgives my friends, since they're gone, but she will never forgive Mojo."

"She actually believed you?" _Bubbles... how could you be so gullible?_ Blossom thought to herself.

"Blossom, please, just don't tell her anything about that. You can hate me, beat me up, even turn me into Mojo if you want, since I'm basically a wanted criminal. But please... all I ask of you is to not tell her what truly happened that day."

"Ace, you are a terrible, horrible no good person for this... but fine. I won't say a word to her about it. I promise, but on one condition. You stop smoking inside here and drinking in front of her. That's not good for her to breathe in, and that alcohol smell reeks as well. "

"Alright, sure, I'll stop doing that around the two of you. In fact, I'll get an air purifier out right now." Ace said, kindly. "Thank-you."

Blossom, stunned by his sudden act of kindness, was thrown back a little. She shifted to another question. "But why though? Why lie to her about this whole thing?" Blossom asked.

"It might sound weird to you, but she's been like a best friend to me for these past five years, and I don't want her to think of me differently. If she ever found out the real truth... she would no doubt hate me for it." *Sigh* "It's true what they say... the past will literally come back to haunt you. Heck, you're living proof of it."

"You are darn right I am." Blossom said, as she shut the door behind her.

Ace sighed, and put his cigarette in ash tray nearby. "Only time will tell."

* * *

Bubbles was practicing with her katana on the rooftop of the apartment amidst a red hazed sky. Blossom gazed her eyes upon her, as she rapidly swung the sword in multiple directions and stances, cutting through the air with such elegance and grace.

"Wow, you're pretty good at that." Blossom said, commending her skills.

"Thanks. Been studying for years now, so it's like second nature to me." Bubbles spun the sword around one last time, and finished off by sheathing it within it's holster. "You know, it's funny... When I was younger, they would always tell me to never run with scissors. Now I run with a katana." Bubbles joked.

"So, I talked to Ace..." Blossom began.

"Did he tell you?" Bubbles immediately asked.

"About what?"

"You know..."

Blossom paused for a moment, not paying attention to Bubbles, rubbing her arm across her shoulder, staring at the ground. "Well... we... uh..."

"I was kidding. Hehe, like I honestly give a shit." Bubbles interrupted. "Whatever he talked to you about, that's between you and him."

Blossom half smiled, nodding anxiously, as giving an okay to Bubbles.

"Alright cool. Let's get some grub to eat, I'm starving." Bubbles started.

* * *

Downtown. Townsville City Hall. A place that was once filled with prosperity, hope, and peace... now lied in wreck, ruins, and decay.

Amidst the peak of the Volcano top observatory fortress in Townsville Park, a dark figure sat in their quarters, going through various reports incoming from the army. As Mojo's sole commander of the robot legion, they were in charge of managing all of the tasks, information and resources collected and completed by the robots. "Computer, send these classified documents to Bellum and give me a status update on Sector V." They spoke into the microphone near their computer screen.

"Sending... Done. Checking... Reports received. Displaying current reports on screen." The computer voice spoke.

They began to process the reports on screen, instantly reading through and acquiring the necessary information needed, up to a certain point on screen. "This report looks suspicious." The report on screen had read 'Unidentified large mass of energy recently scanned and located in downtown Townsville.'

"No further details on this? I may need to report this news to the Master."

Dressed in a light brown trench coat with her green dress shirt in the middle, her classic white mary jane stockings, and black dress shoes on the bottom, Buttercup turned her head slightly revealing her cybernetic eye to the light. She began floating toward Mojo's headquarters to deliver the news she had acquired. The left side of her body was entirely normal and organic as before, complete with her original outfit unaltered, but her right side was altered extensively. She was now half cyborg, complete with robotic limbs and an artificial eye that had multiple uses for analyzing items and equipment for extraction, to terminating hostiles swiftly and effortlessly.

Passing through the hallways filled with multiple statues and pictures of Mojo Jojo built in his likeness, she entered through the automatic doors to his main domain. The massive room was engulfed in darkness, with huge exterior window glass panes located in the most northern section. There in the room, on an elevated platform near the middle of the glass windows, sat in his chair like a king on a throne the supposed ruler of Townsville himself, gazing straight out into the distance of the city he now controls.

"Master, I come with news of a possible unknown entity having emerged spontaneously, located in downtown Townsville, sector..."

"Do not worry about it, my dear Buttercup." He interrupted. "It is probably nothing of importance."

"Master, I strongly urge you to read this report. A large-scale energy mass reading was found when conducted in the environment with no other specific details on the matter."

"A large-scale mass of energy?"

Turning in his swivel chair to face Buttercup was the main, maniacal monkey with the massive ego.

Mojo Jojo didn't change all that much physically within the five-year gap. He simply now had a few wrinkles on his face under his eyes. He still sported his giant oval shaped helmet to cover his brain, now more polished with a glossy white finish, and jewel encrusted diamonds along the bottom. His cape was slightly longer, and now he wore a gold chain medallion around his neck and a gold belt buckle on the waist of his purple suit.

"Let me see this for myself." Mojo pressed a button to lower the platform down to base level with the floor and rolled his chair over to the far-right side of the room where the main computer was. The monitor was massive, with a control pad featuring an incredible number of buttons and switches. "Computer give me the status reports for all main sectors today."

"Status reports initializing... ready." The computer complied.

On screen displayed a large 3D hologram of the Earth, then zooming into a replica map of Townsville. "Which sector did you say it was again?" Mojo asked.

"Sector V, Master." Buttercup replied.

"Computer, locate Sector V." Mojo commanded.

"Locating Sector V..." The computer obeyed. "Located."

"Ahh, good old artificial intelligence. Makes life so much easier." Mojo eased back into his chair, while Buttercup glanced over at Mojo with zero emotion, and then back at the screen.

The on-screen map showed the coordinates of the energy wave described in the report.

"See here Master, the readings here indicate that this area had a massive field of energy surrounding it for a brief moment in time. The only thing that I can process to have such an effect would be a..."

"Temporal displacement." Mojo finished her sentence.

"Precisely." Buttercup said.

Mojo scratched his chin as he thought to himself _what_ _could it possibly be?_ He straightened out in his chair and gave another command. "Computer, zoom in and give the camera locations of Sector V that I had the destructo-bots install recently."

"Locating Sector V camera systems." The computer said. "Cameras found... now displaying camera one on screen." The view of an intersection with a small corner shop called 'Cooper's Market' filled the screen.

"The reading was conducted closely to camera five, Master." Buttercup told him.

"I knew that." Mojo snapped back. "Computer, switch to camera five."

The screen's view now switched to a desolate alleyway, with a large dumpster. "This area seems familiar." Mojo squinted hard at the screen of the area being displayed for a brief couple of seconds, until it struck him. His eyes widened as he began to realize the situation at hand. A bewildered look then came across his face. "Has she... returned?"

"Master?" Buttercup asked, confused.

Mojo put a hand up, halting her from saying anything else. "Computer, retrieve the archived footage saved from today's earlier recordings."

"Rewinding footage." The computer spoke. Mojo watched the screen intently, patiently waiting to find the right time stamp.

"PAUSE!" He shouted.

The screen stopped at a giant swirling vortex, hovering in the air above the alleyway.

"There is the portal, now play the rest, computer." Mojo said.

The footage resumed as normal, with the portal quickly spitting out a small figure very reminiscent to Mojo, which reminded him of a certain event that occurred about five years ago, which was the basis of his plans in the first place. The portal then vanished completely just as it appeared, leaving behind the small figure into the low light. Blossom.

Mojo smiled an evil grin. "Back so soon, now?" He said in a wickedly demeaning manner. "She'll be in for a treat."

Buttercup stared intently at the screen, her eyes widely glaring at where her sister laid unconscious on the ground... except... she didn't realize it was her sister.

In the dark it wasn't very visible, but Buttercup had small screws implanted into the sides of her forehead, right underneath the bangs of her hair. After the numerous experiments carried out on her, Mojo already knew that he had shut off the core memories from her mind that made Buttercup remember her past life in order to make her into the super soldier he needed her to be. He kept the main functions he needed, such as discipline and obedience by planting a control chip wired to her frontal lobe in order to manipulate her for his bidding.

Mojo kept smiling with his evil grin. Turning to face Buttercup he asked her "You see that insolent little worm on the monitor right there?"

Buttercup nodded.

"I want you to find her and bring her to me! Alive..."

Buttercup's eye quickly scanned the image of Blossom on screen.

"Understood." She said and flew straight out of the room.

Mojo turned back towards the screen, catching the image of Blossom just as she recovered her consciousness and began to jet off into the sky. "Welcome back, Blossom. I apologize for forgetting about you during the time you've been away, but I am glad you're back so that we can properly be... reacquainted."

"MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

* * *

"Damn, that was some good spaghetti." Bubbles said, happily.

"I'll say! I didn't know Ace could cook so well." Blossom agreed.

The two of them exited out of the apartment building to a nearby parking garage where Ace said he would be working on something.

"Did you know, in addition to his blacksmith forging and cooking skills, Ace is a mechanic now?" Bubbles asked Blossom.

"Really?" Blossom replied.

"Yeah, he's fixed up a bunch of cars for the resistance, in addition to his own that he's been working on."

"Well, those are certainly some better hobbies than beating up on kids and robbing them of their lunch money."

Entering the garage, the girls spotted Ace was under the hood of a car, working with a monkey wrench in hand.

"Yo moron! What you been working on?" Bubbles called over to him.

"Oh this? Not for me, this is just a little gift for the pals at the 'Overthrow Mojo Headquarters.' My ride is over here." Ace put down his tools and wiped his hands from any excess grease.

"I've been working on this baby for a while now. Just installed some nitrous oxide in the back and hooked it up to the engine." Ace walked over to a vehicle covered up with a large blanket. "Ladies, let me introduce you to..." His hands quickly threw the cover off to reveal a shiny, jet black, late 1960s muscle car, with twin alloy exhaust pipes, a turbo charged engine on the hood, chrome star studded rims, and flame decals around the front bumper and sides of the doors. "The Stallion."

"Whoa..." Blossom's said, eyes widened, completely astounded.

"Shotgun!" Bubbles called out and ran towards the car.

"Hey, careful with those leather seats!" Ace said as he went after her.

Blossom floated around the vehicle checking out the craftsmanship. "This is incredible work!"

"Ya like it? I tried my best to restore it, while adding a few touch ups. To think that I actually destroyed beauties like these in the junkyard back in the day..." Ace lamented.

"Well come on! Let's test this puppy out!" Bubbles said, ecstatically. "Pleassssssssseeeee!" She begged, while Blossom giggled quietly.

"Alright, alright. Bellum actually sent some coordinates to this warehouse for us to scope out. So, might as well take it for a spin!"

"YES!" Bubbles shouted, joyful as ever.

"Cool!" Blossom followed up.

Once they all got into the car, Ace, Bubbles, and Blossom began their cruise along the streets of Townsville, then onto desolate highway.

Staring out the window of the car, Blossom's thoughts trailed off while she stared off into the distance.

"Hey Ace, how bout some tunes?" Bubbles asked.

"Sure, why not? Got a CD under the compartment there, see what's on it." Ace responded.

Bubbles opened the small compartment and took out a CD, inserted it into the player and hit the play button.

The song started off into a low drum beat, which then escalated into a samba rhythm mixed with a hand drum and maracas.

"OH! Is this what I think it is? Awwwwwww yeah! That's my jam!" Bubbles said, getting excited.

"I think I heard this before on the Professor's old records. Is that the Rolling Stones?" Blossom asked, eagerly.

"You know it, sis! Sympathy for the Devil!" Bubbles started to sing along to the song's lyrics: "Please allow me to introduce myself. I'm a man of wealth and taste."

Ace slightly chuckled at her singing while driving.

"I've been around for a long, long year. Stole many a man's soul and faith. I was 'round when Jesus Christ had his moment of doubt and pain. Made damn sure that Pilate washed his hands and sealed his fate."

She gave a jab to Ace's arm and said "Come on!" while the song picked up. Ace turned, smiled back at her, and chimed right in: "Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name! But what's puzzling you is the nature of my game!"

"This ain't 'Nam, but man, I'll be damned if this sure as hell don't feel like it!" Ace said.

The singing continued:

"I Stuck around St. Petersburg when I saw it was a time for change. Killed the Tsar and his ministers. Anastasia screamed in vain.

I rode a tank. Held a general's rank. When the blitzkrieg raged. And the bodies stank.

Pleased to meet you. Hope you guess my name, oh yeah! Ah, what's puzzling you is the nature of my game, oh yeah!

I watched with glee. While your kings and queens. Fought for ten decades. For the gods they made.

I shouted out, who killed the Kennedys? When after all. It was you and me.

Let me please introduce myself. I'm a man of wealth and taste. And I laid traps for troubadours. Who get killed before they reached Bombay.

Pleased to meet you Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah! But what's puzzling you is the nature of my game, oh yeah, get down, baby!"

"Blossom! Air guitar solo!" Bubbles called out.

Blossom turned her attention towards the two as they sang, rolling her eyes and giving a small smirk, she began to simulate air guitar for the solo part of the song for about a minute.

The singing resumed:

"Pleased to meet you. Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah! But what's confusing you, is just the nature of my game.

Just as every cop is a criminal. And all the sinners saints. As heads is tails. Just call me Lucifer. 'Cause I'm in need of some restraint.

So, if you meet me. Have some courtesy. Have some sympathy, and some taste.

Use all your well-learned politesse. Or I'll lay your soul to waste, mm yeah.

Pleased to meet you. Hope you guessed my name, mm yeah. But what's puzzling you, is the nature of my game, mm mean it, get down."

The second solo played out at the end, as the song was nearing to a close. Blossom was really getting into the air guitar at this point.

"Woo, who! Oh yeah, get on down! Oh yeah! Oh yeah!

Tell me baby, what's my name. Tell me honey, can ya guess my name. Tell me baby, what's my name. I tell you one time, you're to blame.

Oh, who! Woo, woo! Woo, who! Woo, woo! Woo, who, who! [x2] Oh, yeah!

What's my name? Tell me, baby, what's my name. Tell me, sweetie, what's my name."

The muscle car continued its cruise along the desolate highway, as the song came to a close.

* * *

Blossom, Bubbles and Ace arrived at the location of the warehouse Ms. Bellum sent them coordinates to. Ace parked the car on the street nearby, while Blossom and Bubbles sneaked along the side to the back door. They waited patiently, and watched the robot guards commanding the slave labor workers that they had captured, loading crates from the warehouse into an armored truck. Each of the workers had shock collars attached around their neck and were shackled together in chains around their ankles.

"Those poor people." Blossom eyes drooped in despair.

"We can't do anything about them. At least not now. First, we have to get inside." Bubbles told her. "Ace, are they moving out yet?" Bubbles spoke into her wrist communicator.

Ace stayed in the car, keeping surveillance on the crew of workers loading the crates. "I think they're almost done... yeah, looks like they're moving out now."

As the truck began rolling out with all of the slaves and robots accounted for, Ace ran over to the girls, and prepared to enter the inside premises.

Ace pulled out the shotgun off his back. "I like to keep this handy." *CHK-CHK.* "For close encounters. Ha-ha, I've always wanted to say that!"

"Way to steal movie quotes, dude." Bubbles said, and walked ahead.

"Ah, come on." Ace frowned.

In case if there were any other robot guards left at the warehouse, Bubbles and Ace stacked up against the door and prepared to breach. "Blossom, you fly and get a view of the middle, alright?" Bubbles told her.

"Uh... sure." She replied.

Ace kicked the door open, gun drawn, while checking the left corner, with Bubbles and Blossom following.

"Clear left." Ace checked, aiming his shotgun.

"Clear right." Bubbles checked, aiming her desert eagle. "Blossom?"

"Middle is clear." Blossom said, as she floated above the two of them, getting a surrounding vantage view of the warehouse. Long rows of crates filled the three main aisles, with each set stacking up three stories high.

"Okay, this place is massive. We need to spread out and search for stuff. I'll check this side over here." Ace told them, pointing to the farthest left aisle.

"Right, me and Blossom will check out this side." Bubbles replied, gesturing towards the right farthest aisle.

"Gotcha." He said, and began moving out.

Ace walked around the left corner, while Bubbles and Blossom stuck to the right.

"So, what exactly are we looking for in here?" Blossom asked.

"Mostly supplies. Hopefully some new toys to play with." Bubbles said, enthusiastically.

"You mean guns, right?" Blossom responded.

"What else did you think I was talking about?" Bubbles said.

* * *

After some time of searching through needless or empty crates, Ace finally stumbled upon a large weapons cache at his disposal.

"Jackpot."

Ace opened the crate with a crowbar and started rummaging through the stockpile of various firearms.

"Hot damn! Look at all this firepower." His voice bellowed while bent over searching inside the crate.

"Hey, don't hog it all for yourself!" Bubbles called out, as she scurried over, with Blossom floating behind.

Ace picked out an assault rifle from the crate and examined it closely. "Hmm... AK-47."

"A Kalashnikov classic." Bubbles commented.

Ace then picked out a sub-machine gun and examined it. "MP5."

"The Über SMG." Bubbles said.

"With... an under mounted M203 grenade launcher barrel attached." Ace added.

"Ooooooooo! Wicked sick." Bubbles said, all giddily with excitement.

Bubbles climbed up and began looking in the crate herself. She dug around in the box until she finally found something that caught her eye. "Do my eyes deceive me? Two Mac-10 mini Uzis in perfect mint condition! Oh baby, I'm going akimbo." She smiled with a large grin.

"Oh man... look at this!" Ace called out.

Bubbles and Blossom turned their heads to Ace's direction, and Bubbles' face lit up. "A FREAKIN' RPG!" She shouted.

"A rocket launcher?!" Blossom said, amazed by the gigantic weaponry. "Holy..."

"DUDE! That is frigging... AWESOME!" Bubbles said with excitement. "I wanna use it so bad."

"Hold it." Ace said, waving a hand in front of her. "This thing is way too heavy for you. Plus, you're not adequately trained in launcher explosives such as these."

"ARE YOU JOKING?" Bubbles riled up. "I learned how to properly cook grenades back when I was seven. I damn well know how to handle explosives."

"Umm, hello? This thing weighs like a ton. If you tried to fire it, you'd probably blow us all up." Ace joked.

"You know, if I had fingers, I'd be giving you the bird right about now." Bubbles folded her arms.

"So... are you two gun nuts finished yet with your scavenger hunt? We should really get going." Blossom suggested.

The two of them looked back at Blossom, glanced at each other for a brief second, and at the same time said "Nah," proceeding to resume gathering weapons.

"M16!" Ace called out.

"Double barrel shotgun!" Bubbles shouted with joy.

Blossom rolled her eyes, and kept watch behind them, as the duo kept stockpiling on weapons to their heart's content.

All of a sudden, she heard a faint sound come from the warehouse garage door. Her supersonic hearing allowed her to pick up on what exactly it was.

"THE DEVICE IS PROPERLY SECURED IN STORAGE, LOCATED AT THE NORTH-WEST CORNER OF THE WAREHOUSE." An electronic voice spoke.

"Excellent. The Master will be needing it for transport soon enough." Another, familiar voice spoke.

Blossom gasped. Covering her mouth, she thought to herself _Buttercup? Is that you?!_

* * *

"Dude, come on! You can't have every heavy weapon! Why am I stuck with all the pistols and sub-machine guns?" Bubbles complained.

"You're not able to use these guns yet! You're too small, and the recoil on some of these weapons would send you flying." Ace told her, while picking up a Barrett 50. caliber sniper rifle.

Bubbles grudgingly strutted back over to the crate and dug into it, determined to get a rare find. She then felt something at the very bottom. She picked it out of the bin as it shined into the dim light. "A Smith and Wesson 44 magnum..."

Ace turned his head over to see the shimmering beauty of the gun grace his presence. A beautiful, long refined barrel, with a polished silver coloring revolving chamber and ergonomic grip. It was like a gift from the heavens, and it was in Bubbles' hands. As she inspected the gun ever so carefully, Ace immediately swiped it out of her hands to get a good look at the gun himself.

"HEY! THAT'S MINE!" She yelled.

"Oh man, this thing... is a beauty!" Ace said, inspecting the gun himself.

"I FOUND IT! SO, FINDER'S KEEPERS!" Bubbles argued.

"Oh, come on, you already got a magnum pistol. Plus, the double barrel shotgun and all those sub-machine guns we found. You've got a good arsenal for you." Ace said.

"GIVE IT TO ME!" Bubbles shouted, jumping up and down trying to reach for the weapon out of Ace's grasp.

"I think I'll keep this one for myself." Ace twirled it in his finger like a cowboy gunslinger before putting it in his duffel bag.

"YOU ASSHOLE! THAT WAS MINE!" Bubbles shouted at him.

Ace ignored her, and kept his eye out for more crates. He spotted a particularly large one in the northwest corner of the room. "Woah this one looks interesting." He grabbed a crowbar out of his backpack and began to jam it into the wood of the lid, picking away bit by bit.

"Alright... hrrrgh... let's see... hrrrgh... what prize... rrrrgh... awaits..."

Bubbles stood by, cross armed and angry as ever, but still ready to loot.

The top of the lid finally snapped open. "Bingo!" Ace said. Putting the crowbar aside and forcing the lid off the top, his eyes widened as he saw the contents inside. "Holy shit..." he muttered out loud.

"What? What is it?" Bubbles asked diligently. "Come on, let me see, let me see!" She bounced up and down. Ace grabbed her a smaller crate nearby to boost her up so she could look into the very large crate.

"What the..." Bubbles muttered. "Is that what I think it is?" She asked Ace.

He didn't even get to answer as all of a sudden...

"GUYS! GUYS!" Blossom called out, making her way over to Ace and Bubbles.

"Hey Blossom, umm, your super strength should come in handy for this." Ace talked over while peering into the crate.

"Huh?" Blossom replied confused.

"Blossom, you're not gonna believe what we found." Bubbles spoke to her sister in a serious grim tone.

Blossom slowly floated forward to see what all the fuss was about. The enormous concealed crate was a mystery to her. She couldn't honestly think of what to expect what was inside of it. As she reached where Ace was standing next to, she started to get a tense feeling of dread. Looking down from the top of the crate, she spotted an almost inconceivable sight. A gigantic nuclear warhead laying flat inside the crate.

"IS THAT AN ATOMIC BOMB?" Blossom bursted out loud.

"Yup. Mojo is harboring nukes. Who would have guessed." Bubbles said sarcastically.

"This thing is BIG trouble, not just for us, but a lot of innocent people as well. I don't know what the hell he wants to use it for, but frankly, I don't even want to know." Ace said, slightly shaken up.

"We've got more problems. I heard some voices outside of the warehouse, and they're close!"

"Oh shit, we better hide." Ace looked around the room for a brief moment and saw another large crate in the middle that they could use as cover. "Over there!"

Blossom, Bubbles and Ace quickly took cover behind the crate, as the garage to the warehouse slowly began to open up revealing Buttercup and a group of destructo-bots accompanying her. As they made their way into the warehouse, Buttercup noticed a few of the crates had been opened with the contents emptied, raising her suspicions instantly. "Someone has been in here. Destructo-bots, find and apprehend them."

"Bubbles, it's Buttercup!" Blossom whispered to her sister.

"What the hell is she doing here?" Bubbles whispered back.

"I don't know!" Blossom shook her head. "Probably something to do with that nuke just sitting in the back."

"You two shush!" Ace whispered to them both.

"I'm gonna get the payback I've been waiting for so long." Bubbles riled up, while still keeping quiet.

"No, you're not! You're gonna stay here and listen to me!" Ace raised his voice in a hushed tone.

"Are you gonna make me?" Bubbles argued back.

"Yeah, I am!" Ace continued the arguing.

"You can't control me!"

"Oh, you think I can't?"

"Guys." Blossom interrupted.

"YEAH!"

"YEAH!"

"GUYS!" Blossom shouted at them.

The two them stared at Blossom wide eyed. As she realized what she just did, she put her hands over her mouth and said "Oops."

"DESTRUCTO-BOTS, ATTACK!"

 ** _END OF CHAPTER 7_**

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE** **:** **It's been 84 years... BUT FINALLY, I HAVE COMPLETED THE SEVENTH CHAPTER. *DIES.***

 **Audience: But Matthew, you still haven't finished the story yet.**

 **Oh shit, my bad fam. *RESURRECTS.***

 **I'm sorry everyone, mostly for being a lazy ass, but I finally got down to finishing the chapter. Christ it's been like what? 4-5 months since the last update? Shit. Oh well, certain things take time to perfect. You can't rush them. (Looking at you Rick and Morty season 3).**

 **I've changed a bit in the time I first started writing this story. I don't know why, but I've been feeling less and less inspired as of lately. I still want to continue the story and have a passion to complete it, but it's just different now. I blame the PPG reboot. It had me really depressed last year, but I think that shit is going to die out, (hopefully) by sometime this year. (2017) I adore the original show and the fandom. It's my favorite TV show of all time, hands down. I can never stop loving it. I just hope the reboot ends. It's a disgrace, and it's ruining the legacy of PPG. It seriously just needs to disappear, and never return.**

 **Anyways, this chapter was a big focus on the relationship between Ace, Bubbles, and even Blossom. To build their new character identities, how they interact with one another, and their morals. Also, to bring back our favorite green gal! Finally, Buttercup gets her spotlight in the future setting, and so does Mojo. So, let's get down to the jist of it.**

 **Some Clarification:** The chapter picks up right after Chapter 5's ending. Bubbles shooting her gun, getting Blossom's attention, pissing off Ace. But then we see the sort of interactions between them, how they have become good friends with one another since Mojo's hostile take over. The main influence of their relationship would kind of be like Joel and Ellie from the video game "The Last of Us." (Such a fantastic game). Right here I'll list some quick story bits that I wanted to elaborate on, as well as the characterizations.

\- The whole "big secret" thing that Ace doesn't want Bubbles to know about will play a unique role later on in the story.

-Mojo and Buttercup's appearances were a bit vague for now, but there will be plenty more of them soon enough. As well as some major plans Mojo, has been secretly scheming.

\- The whole song section, was kind of a self-aware reference thing. I wanted to just have a small little piece of the story where the characters could just kick back, relax, and jam out. Kind of went for a 1960s Vietnam war vibe with "Sympathy for the Devil," all while in a 1960s-muscle car. It was fun choosing a song for that sequence. Maybe I'll get another Rolling Stones selection in later on. I have an idea for one...

\- In the warehouse, I know, I might have gone a little gun crazy with all the weapons Ace and Bubbles were finding. (I don't own any guns myself, or have ever shot one. I just watch a lot of action movies and play a lot of first-person shooter games). :P

\- That magnum revolver... Bubbles found it, but Ace wanted to keep it himself. Might hint to something in the future. *Wink wink.*

 **Characterizations:**

\- Ace is... not really a Father figure I would say, but more like a guardian. A badass one that teaches Bubbles the ropes of normal life without super powers. Over the time, he's gotten more chill, and has become a lot nicer to people, especially Bubbles. (Even if they do tend to fight with each other every now and then). He's got a lot of regrets for past mistakes in his life, but he tries his best to make up for them. When he talks to Blossom, he doesn't swear or talk to her harshly. Being nice towards her is an example of making amends. He's no Saint however, and still has some of his old ways such as being a bit harsh and conniving. The big secret that he doesn't want Bubbles to know is one of them. Like Bubbles, Ace has learned some new talents over the five years that he now puts to good use in the apocalyptic future... er... present. His focuses are just slightly more conventional than Bubbles. (She took up learning Ninjutsu in five years)!

\- Buttercup. Poor Buttercup. A lot of bad has happened to her within the five-year span. It isn't technically elaborated on yet, but something happened to her the night she went out before invasion day. All we know now is that she works for Mojo, and is a cybernetic being with her super powers still intact. Some hints were thrown out that Mojo has experimented on her.

\- Mojo is now entirely an ego maniac. He rules over Townsville with an iron fist, making slave labor workers build statues in his likeness and tend to his every bidding. I know Mojo can be a rather goofy villain, so even though he is even more evil than he ever was before, I still want to keep some of his humor attached to his dialogue later on.

 **References/Trivia**

\- Two references from Bubbles when she gets her katana. "Hattori Hanzo" is the famous retired swordsmith from "Kill Bill." (Which is probably based on the real Hattori Hanzo from the 16th century).

\- The next one should be easy. "Noble warrior from long ago in a distant land." Ma boi SAMURAI JACK!

\- Townsville's "Sector V" is a little reference to the main group from Codename: Kids Next Door. One of my other favorite CN shows.

\- Cooper's Market was a reference from "The Rowdyruff Boys."

\- The "Stallion" is a muscle car from the Grand Theft Auto video game series.

\- An entire self-aware section dedicated to the song from the Rolling Stones, "Sympathy for the Devil." (Their songs are big inspirations for this story).

\- "Aliens" reference by Ace right before they raid the warehouse, and Bubbles fully calls him out for it. (Another self-aware reference).

 **I can't thank you all enough for sticking around through this long hiatus. I apologize for the long wait once again, but I promise to deliver quality work over sub-par, rushed writing any day.**

 **Until next time...**

 **\- GoldMatt007, Matthew**


	8. Bring Them Together

**_Same As It Never Was_**

 ** _Chapter 8_**

 ** _Bring Them Together_**

"BLOSSOM, GET DOWN!" Bubbles shouted, quickly grabbing her sister by the shirt into cover.

*RATA-TAT-TAT-ATA-TAT-TAT-ATA-TAT!*

Gunfire immediately erupted in the warehouse, with the robots focusing their fire on Ace, Bubbles and Blossom behind the crate. The robots had miniature mounted chain guns on there arms that rotated at ludicrous speeds, spitting out rounds upon rounds of ammunition per second.

"DIDYA REALLY HAVE TO YELL THERE?" Ace shouted to Blossom, impolitely.

"GOOD JOB STIRRING THE HORNET'S NEST BLOSSOM!" Bubbles yelled. "THIS IS WHY WE DON'T BRING NEWBIES ON STEALTH MISSIONS!"

"WELL IF YOU TWO WOULD'VE JUST SHUT UP FOR A SECOND, I WOULDN'T HAVE TO RAISE MY VOICE TO GET YOUR ATTENTION!" Blossom retaliated. "Even in the future, I have to deal with this crud."

Bubbles exchanged some gunfire with the robots using her desert eagle pistol, and quickly ducked back down into cover. "There's too many of these assholes!" She shouted over the noise.

"Just hold em off, alright!" Ace shouted back, as he popped out of cover for a shot with his shotgun.

"You guys do know I can fly, right?" Blossom reminded them, sarcastically. "I could probably fly the nuclear bomb into orbit and destroy the thing where nobody can get hurt."

"Not a bad idea." Bubbles said. "Only problem is the force field around the city would prevent you from doing so."

"Yeah, that's one of the main issues." Ace began to explain. "Listen, I'm going to make it out back with Bubbles and the weapons stash, while you make a distraction for our getaway. Think you can do that?"

"Sure... but what about Buttercup?" Blossom asked.

"What about the friggin' nuke?" Bubbles demanded, whilst taking some pot-shots at the robots. "Can't you disarm it?"

"We don't have time for her, I'm sorry." Ace answered. "And come on Bubbles, what do you take me for? I've never defused a bomb before, let alone a nuke! There's nothing we can do about that. For now, we need to get back to the car, and we can make our escape!" Ace told them.

"You know what... screw it. Just give me a weapon and I'll do all the dirty work." Bubbles said, harshly.

"We don't have time for your crazy revenge nonsense either. WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!" Ace shouted at the two of them, while he made a break for the back exit.

"Ah, screw off. I'm going to enjoy this." She leapt into the fray of battle, brandishing two pistols in her hands, while Blossom watched in horror. "COME AND GET ME YA SONS OF BITCHES!"

"Bubbles! Wait!" Blossom stretched an arm out for her.

Bubbles ran straight forward and began shooting two semi-automatic pistols simultaneously at the group of robots, while dodging their oncoming fire at the same time. Two robots stumbled back from the shots hitting them in the torso, which slightly weakened them, but they quickly recovered, continuing to shoot at Bubbles. She dove over a box of crates, and landed in a somersault behind cover next to a tall warehouse rack. At this point she threw away the two smoking pistols, as they were out of ammunition. Bubbles then took a hand grenade out of her coat pocket.

"FIRE IN THE HOLE!" She pulled the pin off, and chucked it across the room towards the robots' position. The same two robots stood there shooting at her blindly, right up until the explosive reached their feet.

*KABOOM!*

Chunks of scrap metal pieces flew all over within the warehouse.

"Hey! Be careful with those in here!" Blossom called out, covering her head from raining debris.

"Oops. My bad." Bubbles chuckled.

Bubbles reached for the katana on her back, slowly grabbing the edge of the handle.

*KASHING!*

She quickly drew the blade from the holster on her back, gripping it tightly with both hands out in front of her, as bullets kept pounding the opposite side of her cover. "Time to slice and dice." She emitted a wide grin; the katana gleamed with her reflection.

Bubbles dashed out of cover once again into the oncoming fire from the robots. Holding the katana above her head, she jumped straight upwards, high into the air while bullets hazed past her, and landed on a robot right beneath her.

*SLASH!*

The blade instantly cut through the robot's metal frame like tissue paper, severing it in two separate halves. Exposed circuitry and wires caused sparks of electricity to fly out.

"Woah!" Blossom said aloud looking out from her cover position, completely astonished.

A robot to Bubbles' left side turned and focused fire towards her. Bubbles started wildly cartwheeling towards its direction. She leapt right over the sentient machine with an acrobatic front flip, and stabbed it in the abdominal from behind.

"OBJECTIVE: NEUTRALIZE TARGET." A group of more robots facing her opposite direction began advancing towards her.

"Bubbles, look out!" Blossom warned.

With some quick thinking, Bubbles hacked off the incapacitated robot's chain gun arm while the gun barrels were still spinning.

"EAT LEAD, ASSHOLES!" She shouted, aiming the weapon at the robots.

*RATA-TAT-TAT-ATA-TAT-TAT-ATA-TAT!*

Shell casings poured out through the back of the gun plated arm at a rapid rate, and the robots were easily decimated within seconds. Bubbles finally dispatched the final robot, decapitating the head clean off of its body with her trusty sword. Sparks began showering out everywhere within the vicinity from the once living machine, before it fell to the ground in an instant. Blossom's face was full of shock and excitement at the same time. She was ecstatic to witness the incredible feats and maneuvers her sister had just pulled off, all without using super powers.

"Bubbles, that was AMAZING!" Blossom cheered.

"Ah, that was no sweat." Bubbles grinned at her.

"Pathetic." A voice from behind spoke out.

Buttercup glared down at Bubbles, saying absolutely nothing, with a sinister stare. Bubbles turned and looked back up at Buttercup who was simply floating in place with her arms crossed. She had the urge to taunt her, to make her angry, to challenge her.

"What? ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!" Bubbles shouted towards her.

Buttercup kept quiet, but she slowly began to hold out her right arm. Within seconds, the shiny metallic robotic limb morphed into a miniature armored chain gun.

"Insolent little parasite." She snarled, and raised her arm towards Bubbles.

Bubbles stood still with her sword held out, narrowing her eyes at Buttercup. Tensions were high between the two, and were just about to escalate, right until Blossom stepped in.

"Buttercup! Stop! What are you doing?" Blossom floated up close to get a good look at her sister, now completely changed. "Oh no. Buttercup, what happened to you? Why are you helping Mojo?" She asked.

Buttercup kept silent, but simply shot Blossom a strange, confused look.

"Don't bother Blossom, she's not going to listen to you." Bubbles said, standing her ground.

"Buttercup, don't you recognize me at all? It's me, Blossom." She said as sincerely as possible.

Buttercup pondered for a moment, staring Blossom in the eyes. After a brief moment, she spoke.

"Why, of course I remember." Buttercup said, ever so gleefully. Blossom's expression instantly lit up.

"You are the one Mojo wants me to capture." She said in a serious tone, morphing her right arm once again into a deadly laser cannon. Blossom's expression then changed to a sour one.

"Told yah." Bubbles gloated.

"BUTTERCUP, WAIT!" Blossom waved her arms.

Buttercup's laser burned bright blue, right as she fired her canon towards Blossom. Blossom easily dodged the attack and the subsequent follow-ups.

"Do not worry, it is only set to stun." Buttercup gave a devious smile.

"Buttercup, PLEASE, STOP!" Blossom pleaded. "I don't want to fight you."

Ace's voice started to broadcast over Bubbles' wrist communicator. "Where the hell are you two? The damn robots are about to surround me! We need to get-" The communicator's feed then faded to static.

"Aww shit, we should probably jet. Yo Blossom, hitch me a ride outta here." Bubbles called out.

Blossom ducked over one more blast nearly missing her bow, and blowing a hole in the wall behind her.

"Gladly!" She quickly flew down and swooped up Bubbles by her hand, flying out of the warehouse through the same hole.

Buttercup grimaced her teeth in anger. She quickly patched into Mojo's HQ through her own wrist communicator.

"COMMAND, GET MORE DESTRUCTO-BOTS OUT HERE NOW TO TRANSPORT THE DEVICE! I AM HUNTING DOWN THE BOUNTY TARGET AND THEIR ACCOMPLICES AS WE SPEAK." With that done, she sped off out of the warehouse after them.

* * *

Blossom and Bubbles were flying over head downtown Townsville, beneath the crumbling and deteriorating buildings and over the dirt and asphalt. They needed to get back to the apartment complex as quick as possible.

"I seriously can't believe this. Buttercup... why?" Blossom said aloud to Bubbles, with a little disappointment in her voice.

"You seriously are surprised that she wasn't going to just hug you in open arms?" Bubbles sarcastically chimed in. "She doesn't even know who we are anymore, Blossom. It's like we were never family to her."

"But Bubbles, there has to be something we can do to maybe convince her otherwise. I still doubt that Mojo could have easily brainwashed her just like that after I had gone... missing."

Bubbles sighed. "Listen, I don't blame you for trying to talk to her. I'm just as pissed off and disappointed as you are. After that one time I tried, I never wanted to bother doing it again."

The two were silent for a bit, until Bubbles broke the ice to give directions.

"Make a left around this bend." Bubbles said.

The pair turned the corner around a tall decaying building, only to meet up to the devil they spoke of, right in front of their eyes.

"Going somewhere?" Buttercup harshly questioned.

"Yeah, we're going to kick your ass!" Bubbles blurted out.

"Bubbles, shut it!" Blossom hushed her.

Buttercup brought out her laser cannon once again with the beam fully charged and ready to fire. "You are wanted alive for capture red one, but the blond one's head will be my own personal trophy after I am finished with the both of you."

"I AIN'T YOUR DAMN TROPHY!" Bubbles started to get angry. "WHY I OUGHTA..."

"Well, um, its been nice chatting with yah Buttercup, but, uh, we got to get going, so uh, later!" Blossom immediately took off in the opposite direction.

"HEY, WAIT!" Bubbles shouted through the air while they sped off in the distance.

Buttercup growled fiercely, agitated once again. "FACE ME, YOU COWARDS!" She was right on their trail this time however, and the high-speed pursuit in the skies had begun.

"Oh crud, oh crud, oh crud." Blossom muttered out loud.

"Crud? What are you? Five?" Bubbles joked.

"Yes, I technically am still! I'm also not a potty mouth, unlike someone!" Blossom retaliated.

*ZAP!*

"YOWZA!" Blossom yelped, as she ducked under Buttercup's laser blast. Buttercup's cannon fired multiple blue colored plasma blasts, targeting Blossom's flight path, with Blossom swerving left and right to avoid each shot. Blossom took a peak behind her to get an eye on Buttercup's distance.

"She's gaining fast! We should probably-"

"Blossom, watch out!" Bubbles called to her attention. They had barely avoided colliding with a billboard sign displaying Mojo's face with the words 'OBEY' printed in capital letters at the bottom.

"Woah, that was close!" Blossom said.

*CRASH!*

Meanwhile Buttercup blasted right through the sign. "Apologies, Master, but..." Buttercup's computer retina targeting system had a lock on Blossom. "It will be worth it in the end."

"Just hang in there Bubbles, I think we're almost home fr- AHHHHHHH!" Buttercup's energy blast struck Blossom straight in the back, seizing up her body mid flight and causing her to lose grip of Bubbles.

"Blossom! Blossom! OH SHIT! MAYDAY, MAYDAY, WE'RE GOING DOWN!" Bubbles landed in a somersault on a nearby rooftop, while Blossom had crash landed nearby on the streets below. Bubbles immediately got up and ran to the rooftop edge, spotting Blossom lying in a massive crater hole.

"Blossom are you okay?" She called out to her. Blossom didn't move a muscle.

"Damn, she's out cold." Bubbles said to herself. "Now how the hell am I going to..."

While Bubbles was assessing the situation at hand, she heard the sound of a laser beam charging up in the distance behind her. As Bubbles turned her head around ever so slightly, she noticed Buttercup's laser cannon was glowing once again, but this time, the color was a bright red.

"I calculate the effects of that blast should keep her down for enough time for me to deal with you, parasite." Buttercup motioned her arm.

"Aww shit." Bubbles muttered.

Bubbles took off with lightning speed across the rooftop, with Buttercup trailing her behind in the air. The laser cannon on Buttercup's arm was fully charged and ready to fire. The adjacent rooftop led to a narrow alleyway between two buildings. Bubbles quickly leapt onto the side of one of the buildings, running horizontally across the brick wall.

Buttercup fired a shot from her arm cannon, barely missing Bubbles by a hair. Buttercup then fired multiple shots at her. Bubbles kept wall running and simultaneously dodging each shot. She then jumped over to the opposite wall's building and kept her momentum up in one continuous motion. At the end of the alleyway wall, she jumped down to a small rooftop terrace below, landing into a series of back flips, still avoiding the deadly laser beams from Buttercup. She stopped near the edge of the rooftop once more, and pulled out her sword. Three laser shots at Bubbles by that point were instantly deflected by her outstanding defense technique.

This made Buttercup furious, and she had enough. Retracting her arm cannon, the arm now morphed into a blade of her own. Buttercup thrusted her blade downwards at Bubbles with insane speed. Bubbles knew the attack was coming however, and timed it perfectly. At the very last second, she back flipped off the rooftop terrace right as Buttercup's blade made contact with the edge. Landing on a bigger wide-open building roof below, Bubbles looked up at Buttercup, who was struggling to get herself free. The blade was now stuck in the edge, with Buttercup trying with all her might to get it out.

"The hunter now becomes the prey." Bubbles said aloud.

She took the MP5 sub-machine gun stashed inside her coat, and loaded a grenade shell into the barrel of the attached launcher. Buttercup, still struggling, took notice of Bubbles aiming the gun in her direction. She started tugging harder in desperation to escape.

"Say hello… to this little guy."

*BANG!*

Buttercup could only let out a small gasp before the grenade shell soared through the air, hitting the building with a direct impact.

*KABOOM!*

Clouds of dust and ash instantly kicked up into the air from the explosion, along with debris from the crumbling bricks. Bubbles looked sharply through it all, but couldn't see a sign of Buttercup. After a few brief seconds however… a figure quickly emerged, masked behind the ash clouds. Once the smoke cleared, she was visibly bruised, but definitely not beaten.

"You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?" Buttercup spoke down to her.

"Hmph." Bubbles had a small smirk come across her face. "For a second there… yeah, I kind of did."

"Be prepared…" Buttercup retracted the blade from her robotic arm once again. "For the inevitable."

"Are you gonna bark all day little doggy?" Bubbles held out her sword with one hand, the point facing Buttercup. "Or are you gonna bite?"

Buttercup then flew straight after Bubbles.

* * *

"Blossom… Blossom, honey wake up."

"Huh… ugh… who… said that?"

Blossom awoke from her unconscious state, rubbing her head, and dusting her shirt off.

"Oh man, not again. I hope I'm still in the same timeline." She said to herself somewhat jokingly, as she woozily got up.

"Your sisters need you, Blossom…" the voice echoed. "Bring them together, once and for all."

"That voice… it sounded like…"

"Bring them together, once and for all."

Blossom gasped, immediately realizing. "Pr-Professor?"

"Bring them together once and for all. Once and for all." The echoing voice began to fade.

"Professor… wait! Don't… *sniff* don't go…" A single tear dripped from her right eye.

"YAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

All of a sudden, Blossom heard a loud battle cry pierce through the air.

"Bubbles!"

* * *

Buttercup's blade had pinned Bubbles against the ground in a deadlock. Bubbles grit her teeth, pushing Buttercup back with all her strength, as the two crossed swords. Bubbles then lifted her legs up and propelled Buttercup backwards to get some breathing room. Getting back to her feet, she made a break for a brick wall just ahead. While Buttercup regained herself, she shot at Bubbles with her chain gun arm. Bubbles ran straight vertically up the side of the wall, kicking off at the peak of her climb. She flipped off the wall and grabbed the two mini Uzi sub-machine guns out of her coat, shooting off rounds towards Buttercup as she dove through the air.

*DU-DU-DU-DU-DU-DU-DU-DU!*

Buttercup retracted her blade yet again, and flew after Bubbles. The two engaged in mid-air combat, with Bubbles spraying entire clips of ammo, and Buttercup slashing the bullets out of the air with precise dexterity and timing. Buttercup gained distance on Bubbles at this point, and was about to strike. Bubbles' attacks were failing to hit their target, so she had to compensate for the aggression from Buttercup, with her hand on the katana's handle…

*CLANG!*

The blades clashed violently in the air, which made Bubbles drop her guns. The force from the attack was too strong for Bubbles to hold back, causing her to fall hard onto the rooftop, losing her sword in the process. She rolled to the edge of the rooftop, almost falling off, before she quickly gripped the ledge with her hand.

"SHIT!" Bubbles shouted.

Buttercup caught up with her in no time, descending down from the air to Bubbles, as she dangled off the ledge.

In that moment, dark clouds had formed in the air above. Thunder roared and lightning cracked the sky, as Buttercup faced Bubbles.

"You should have obeyed my orders." Buttercup told her. "Resistance to the Master is futile."

"I'd never join you…" Bubbles protested. "Your Master is an asshole. He ruined my life. He ruined yours too, BUT YOU'RE JUST TOO BLIND AND IGNORANT TO SEE IT!"

"SILENCE YOUR IMPUDENCE AT ONCE!" Buttercup's tone raised. She slowly raised her metal foot, towering above Bubbles.

"Any last words before I put an end to your miserable life?" For once, Buttercup's voice instilled her with fear.

Bubbles looked up at her from the ledge, and then lowered her head sorrowfully.

"I'm… sorry Professor… I'm sorry Ace… I'm sorry Blossom… my friends… my family… I failed you all."

Just as Buttercup was about to stomp her foot down…

"BUTTERCUP, STOP THIS, NOW!" Blossom zapped Buttercup with her eye beams from behind.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Buttercup yelled in pain.

Bubbles peaked over the edge to witness Blossom holding Buttercup back with her powers.

"BLOSSOM! HELL YES!" She cheered.

Bubbles gradually began lifting herself back up to the roof. "Bout damn time you showed up."

"YOU! HOW DID YOU REVIVE SO QUICKLY?!" Buttercup demanded to know.

"I don't even know exactly how, but Buttercup, this is for your own good!" Blossom exclaimed.

She took in a breath of air and exhaled her ice breath towards Buttercup.

"Two can play at this game." Buttercup's arm morphed into a flamethrower, expelling flame from its chamber, fighting back the ice flurries.

"Are you kidding me! She's got a damn flamethrower in that thing?" Bubbles said, becoming fed up.

Blossom's ice breath was losing the battle between the flames, overwhelming her to retreat back.

"Uh, need some help here, Bubbles!" She called out.

"On it!" Bubbles sprinted towards Buttercup, getting ready to attack. Buttercup anticipated her action however, and turned the flamethrower towards her.

"SHIT! Blossom, disable her mech arm!" Bubbles said, jumping back from the flames.

Blossom charged an electricity bolt with her hands, aimed, and shot it in the direction of Buttercup's arm. Buttercup quickly turned to face Blossom, seeing the bolt approaching her, she had minimal time to react, but managed to change her arm into a missile launcher at the last second, firing a high-speed rocket towards Blossom.

Each of their attacks hit one another within seconds; the electric bolt struck directly inside the cannon's barrel, frying Buttercup's circuitry, and Blossom being hit by the missile, causing her to fall out of the sky.

"My weapon's system!" Buttercup clutched her titanium plated arm cannon, morphing back to its normal form as sparks started to fizz out and it began to short circuit.

"BLOSSOM!" Bubbles screamed out. "YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!" Bubbles tackled Buttercup to the ground. She began laying punches left and right.

"WHAT… IS… THE… MATTER… WITH… YOU!" Bubbles' spitefulness grew with every strike.

"RELEASE ME, VILE DEGENERATE!" Buttercup knocked Bubbles off her with her normal hand, sending her flying back.

"No matter, I will deal with you pests the old-fashioned way." Buttercup flexed her mechanical arm, readying it for battle.

Blossom hastily regained herself and sped over to Buttercup. Punching her in the face and kneeing her in the abdominal. Buttercup fired back with multiple punches and kicks, while Blossom tried to block each and every one. For the most part, she was successful, but the mechanical arm shots were wearing her down. Finally, Buttercup reveled back and got an open hit on Blossom, hitting her in the stomach, then punching her from behind in the back, straight into to a nearby building window.

Bubbles returned full force, with a furry of bicycle kicks rapidly hitting Buttercup in the chest. Finishing with a back flip kick to her chin. Buttercup stumbled back, but regained her stance, fiercely swinging two punches at Bubbles with her metal hand. Both missed their mark, allowing Bubbles to counter her with two jabs to the cheeks and a reverse roundhouse kick to finish off the combo. Bubbles spared no time, immediately going for a high jump kick, but came up short as Buttercup caught her leg mid-air, throwing her into a brick wall with intense power. The hit was enough to dizzy Bubbles into submission. Not able to recover fast enough, Buttercup picked Bubbles up by the shirt with her organic hand, while also making a fist with her mechanical one. Bubbles knew she wouldn't be able to survive a powerful enough hit from that without her powers. She swiftly went for a headbutt, making Buttercup stagger for a brief second, dropping Bubbles from her clutches. Blossom returned to the fight from above, eyeing Bubbles on the ground and a stunned Buttercup down from below. She then came up with a coordinated plan.

"Bubbles, acrobattack alley-oop, quick!" She called out.

"Gotcha!" Bubbles understood, lining herself up. Bubbles cartwheeled two full rotations, until her kick connected with Buttercup, launching her airborne.

Blossom then held back her fist ready for Buttercup to approach…

"Sorry about this, sis…" Blossom said, reluctantly.

*POW!*

Buttercup flew across the rooftop, gliding across the ground until she stopped dead center in front of a building roof wall.

"DAMN, NICE ONE!" Bubbles commended. "I haven't done that move in years. Still got it though."

Blossom didn't smile however, as she joined her on the roof.

Rain started to pour down hard. Buttercup coughed and wheezed, as she laid slumped up against the brick wall. She tried her best to lift her mechanical arm, but was to no avail. Blossom stood in place, while Bubbles salvaged her weapons and equipment off the rooftop ground. As soon as Bubbles finished, she began to sternly walk over to Buttercup.

"Bubbles... wait." Blossom said, holding her knees.

There they were once again. Two loving sisters, now mortal enemies face to face. Their gazes met one another just like before, but all was silent. The only thing around them that was audible were the little droplets of rain hitting the ground, while thunder and lightning streaked in the sky for a few moments.

"So... you finally have bested me." Buttercup spoke up.

Bubbles grimaced her teeth in a deep rage upon hearing this. "IS THIS WHAT YOU THINK THIS IS ALL ABOUT?! ME KICKING YOUR ASS? WELL I FRANKLY NEVER GAVE A SHIT!"

"Because you are weak. You have remorse, sadness, compassion, and other emotions to drag you down!"

Bubbles' anger exceeded like nothing else before. She grabbed her desert eagle out from the holster inside her coat, and pointed it directly towards Buttercup's forehead.

"You betrayed us..."

"Go ahead. Finish me off. Your efforts will still be in vain. The army will avenge my falling."

"Bubbles stop!" Blossom called out. "What are you thinking? Are all your problems solved by waving a gun around in people's faces?"

"This doesn't concern you Blossom. Bubbles looked back to her for a brief second, then back at Buttercup. "This is personal."

"She's your sister! Not one of those wreck less machines." Blossom pleaded to her. "Even though she's not in the right state of mind, we need to take a chance. I was thinking to bring her back to Ace, and see if he can do anything to fix her. Please Bubbles... please..."

The gun wobbled and jittered in all manner of directions as Bubbles' hand shook in hesitation. Her eyes narrowed with a passion for hatred and anger as she glanced at Buttercup's robotic half, but they slowly turned to a sad and concerned look as she glanced at Buttercup's organic half. Then after a moment, she backed down, holstering her gun, as Buttercup slipped into unconsciousness.

"Go... get her out of her." Bubbles said to Blossom. "I'll meet you back at the apartment."

"Are you sure, you'll be okay?" Blossom asked as she picked up Buttercup, holding her in her arms.

Not facing Blossom, staring off into the distance from the edge of the rooftop, Bubbles replied to her. "I'll be fine. Go on... see if he can pull off a miracle."

"Okay." Blossom responded. As she began to float away from the building, she turned back to look at Bubbles. "Be careful Bubbles, that vengeful anger can really mess with you."

Bubbles didn't look back or respond. She simply did a little nod, acknowledging Blossom. Blossom took Buttercup and flew off into the sky, while Bubbles stood there silent, the rain pelting down heavily on her.

 _ **END OF CHAPTER 8**_

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE**

 **Well...**

 **It's been a long while...**

 **How have you been?**

 **Me, well, life, just gets hectic you know. Shit happens. I hate that I took such a damn long time to finish writing this chapter, but now... I am just happy that I have completed it.**

 **I also just realized, I started writing this thing over 2 years ago... Holy shit.**

 **A lot has changed since then. Me as an individual, my writing obviously, how I express myself in these notes. (I don't even have a consistent format. These are mostly done in the spur of the moment when I finish a chapter).**

 **But I will definitely say a lot was for the better. I've met some amazing new people and friends, grew an entire community on a social media site, got fan art even featured based on my story (On my Deviantart, I'll link it on my profile), and yeah, pretty much just keep on going.**

 **A lot of this chapter is primarily action based. Writing certain action scenes and sequences was not easy, let me tell you that, but I am hoping it turned out well in the end. Visualizing it in my mind was definitely fun for sure. Big influences were from some of these movie series: The Matrix, Robocop, Kickass, Kill Bill, and Terminator.**

 **The end is nigh for the story, and this is just the beginning (of the end, haha). Anyways... let's get right into the recap.**

 **SOME CLARIFICATION:**

 **\- Right away at the beginning, the shit hits the fan with an intense shootout between the the robots and Blossom, Bubbles, and Ace. A sense of urgency was needed to establish the carnage that was about to unfold. The little old nuclear bomb just sitting there in the back, while waves of evil robots are just shooting rounds upon rounds of ammunition in your direction. Good times...**

 **\- Making Bubbles into the biggest badass I possibly could was an absolute treat. Killing robots with absolute perfect skill and bravery, all without using super powers. She's a savage one...**

 **\- The mean green death machine finally makes her appearance to them for the first time. Buttercup's big reveal to them was something I had been hugely anticipating. She and Bubbles had a vendetta for years, and now it was ready to be settled for good this time.**

 **\- Blossom is anxious at first to fight her sister. She wants to find the good back in her. She knows it's still there. Bubbles sadly had given up hope at this point.**

 **\- Chased around the city, hunted by your sister, and getting hit in the back with a electric shock attack. Just one of those days, huh Blossom?**

 **\- Not to mention leaving your super powerless sister to fend her self from the the other one determined on killing her.**

 **\- I had envisioned the whole fight scene against these two a while back. The pair are equally just as badass in their own separate ways, so the contrast was great to work with.**

 **\- I sometimes like to indulge in the spiritual side of things every once in a while during the story. Mostly like the dream sequence Blossom had in chapter two, and now having Professor speak to her from beyond the grave.**

 **\- The last remaining fight scene was difficult at first on how to approach it. I wanted to make it fair and balanced somewhat for each of them, having some hits taken, but also recovering fast enough to continue the action. In that way when you read the section, it pans out more smoothly.**

 **\- Bubbles gets crazily mad, pulling out a gun on her own sister. She couldn't see the Buttercup she loved anymore, all she saw was a soulless machine. Thanks to Blossom however, she helped remind her.**

 **\- The overall ending with Bubbles in the rain was to provide** **a little catharsis on how she was feeling.**

 **TRIVIA/REFERENCES**

 **Man, I reference a shit ton of action film pop culture. Probably too much...**

 **\- Gladiator quote by Bubbles when she calls out Buttercup with the line "ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?"**

 **\- "Say hello... to this little guy." This was a play on "Say hello to my little friend" from Scarface.**

 **\- Buttercup emerging out of the grenade blast with her and Bubbles re-enacting the famous lines said by Oren and the Bride from Kill Bill Volume 1.**

 **\- "Are you gonna bark all day little doggy? Or are you gonna bite?" A line from Reservoir Dogs.**

 **\- Blossom hearing the Professor, guiding her with his voice was kind of like the moment from Lion King, where Mufasa talks to Simba.**

 **\- The fight scenes with Bubbles and Buttercup in the air where heavily inspired by sequences in The Matrix.**

 **PLAYLIST**

 **I thought I should start adding in this section to my notes, since I have sort of an official soundtrack in my head when I work on certain scenes.**

 **\- "Bad Reputation" by Joan Jett when Bubbles first faces the robots on her own in the warehouse. Probably the perfect song to accompany her single-handedly murdering robots with style.**

 **\- "Paint it Black" by The Rolling Stones when Buttercup pursues Bubbles across the rooftops, leading into the fight between the two.**

 **\- "The Sound of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel, when Bubbles stands by herself in the rain at the end. A good closing song for the chapter in my opinion.**

 **That's all for now, in two more chapters, I plan to wrap up the story. Man, that's just crazy to think about... but I'll be glad to give a proper conclusion.**

 **Take care, everyone.**

 **\- GoldMatt 007, Matthew**


End file.
